Red Tone
by Ukaisha
Summary: He fought the sweet release of death, begged for life, and ended with the immortality of a monster. Now Takuya struggles with the loss of his humanity with the companionship of the vampire Kouji, the source of his curse, and dreading the onset of red...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The author of this story does not in anyway claim ownership of any characters mentioned.  
Warnings: Blood/Blood play, strong sexual references.

A/N: I've never written a story concerning anything fantasy-esque. Never dragons, or vampires, or werewolves, elves, nothing like that. Nothing magical or interesting like that. Truthfully, I haven't read many stories about that kind of thing either. So, as one might say, I'm "shooting from the hip." Really, I just felt like writing something like this.  
Of course.  
Had to incorporate some kind of sexual element to keep my interest.  
Likelawlofcourse.

Red Tone

Takuya didn't hear him coming at all. As a matter of fact, he didn't even see him, which by itself was odd. With all that strange attire and his suspicious appearance, he should've stuck out like a sore thumb. But nope, he didn't even acknowledge his existence until suddenly, without warning, he stuck his face three inches away from his and whispered, "Hey there," breathy as the wind. And then he smiled.  
There was something very strange about his face. Those eyes, that smile, and those teeth in the smile, especially, it was all intriguingly different. It was something about how smug and mischievous the smile was, and something about how aged and wise those perfect blue eyes were, and then something about the simple, raw feeling this guy emitted that was unlike what he'd felt or seen in any other person. Ordinarily, he would've pushed the guy away and demanded to know what his problem was, but staring at that face, and those teeth, and those _eyes_, he forgot to be a defensive tough guy and was totally flustered.

"You look comfortable," he eventually prodded again when Takuya did not respond.  
Well, a hard seat on a train could hardly be called comfortable, but he was relatively at ease until this guy came barging in. He'd been dozing while on a long, midnight train-ride home from visiting his maternal grandparents while his mother and father figured out what the hell was going on with their marriage. Takuya was betting on divorce, and a split-up of the children. He, Takuya, would more than likely go with his father, and Shinya, his brother, would more than likely go with their mother. That was just the scheme of things. This wasn't concerning him as much as it might've any other kid; he was seventeen, and with him so close to that age where he was ready and raring to move out anyway, it seemed stupid to argue over who got to keep him in their home for the next few months.  
At any rate, Shinya had been staying with his paternal grandparents, and was more than happy to stick around until the whole bother was settled. Takuya, however, had friends, and a life back home. Since his father was already out of the house, it didn't make sense for him to not stay home with his mother for the next few weeks, since he likely wouldn't see her again soon, anyway. Besides, he had things to close off with friends, stuff to pack, and generally just things he had to do. He was a busy guy with a busy life.

"Are you mute?" That smile again. Mocking, smug, cocky. Takuya ordinarily would've been infuriated by that smile, but just by looking at those eyes he was hypnotized, and he forgot to be angry. No one's eyes should be that blue, and no one's teeth should be that white. It was surreal.  
He wanted to speak so that he could tell this guy off or to at least inform him that no, he wasn't mute, but opening his mouth alone seemed to take a ton of effort. What was wrong with him? He felt drugged. Abruptly, he felt a haze lift away from him, and as he shook his head, he found himself able to speak and move again.  
"Who the hell are you?" was the first thing out of his mouth, and that guy, so cocky, just made a clicking noise in response. He bowed his head, and suddenly, that face was gone. All he saw was that strange black hood.  
"No one in particular. You just looked like you needed some company."  
"Well, definitely not from someone like you." There. He'd lost it for a minute, but he'd just totally asserted his boundaries. Now if this guy would just get lost, he'd enjoy the rest of the ride home.

But this guy, he just wouldn't give up. If anything, the remark amused him, and he made the clicking sound again. Now that Takuya really thought about it, it sounded kind of like someone was clipping their teeth together. How utterly weird. Who did he think he was, with his body totally hidden by that stupid, willowing black cloak and his sexy eyes looking at him so beautifully? And those teeth, those strangely intriguing teeth, and that skin so ridiculously pale he looked sickly; boy, this guy, he must really think he's the shit. Or he thought he was Dracula.  
"I'm sure you'll find my company absolutely enticing." He lifted his head, just a bit, to reveal his eyes again. That haze covered Takuya from head to toe, and as that guy sat on his lap, - his lap, of all things! - he found that he didn't care at all. Let him sit there. Whether standing or sitting, the guy was a head or so shorter than him, and he had to look down to see those blue, blue eyes. He couldn't stop looking at them.  
"What's your name?" He slipped his hands out from under his cloak and ran pale, bony fingers from his cheek to his neck, as though lovingly caressing him. They were ice cold and his nails were long and sharp, like claws.  
"Uh..." What was his name? Takuya couldn't remember his name. For a split second, he saw through the fog enough to suddenly nearly shout: "Takuya!" and suddenly, it covered him again. The guy lifted his head to reveal his face fully, still smiling that infuriating little smile. What a lovely face. Why was he hiding it under that cloak? So that people wouldn't see how beautiful he was? He was stunning. But even that face didn't do those eyes justice.  
"My name's Kouji."  
Takuya dumbly nodded his head. The name meant nothing to him; he had no concept of thinking. Kouji moved his face in closer to his, staring right into his eyes. Takuya could feel his lashes tickling his skin, he was so close. Those vast oceans of blue were sucking him in. His breath gave him chills, especially when he acidentally inhaled it. He felt high for a second. And then he blinked those eyes delicately and breathed on him again, and oh, it was so nice.

"Is this your stop?"  
Takuya numbly shook his head, still keeping his eyes totally focused on those deep pools. Kouji blinked, a long blink, and Takuya found himself able to grunt, "Long way to go."  
"You're sure?" Kouji bowed his head. The rest of the world came to life around him, and he was surprised at all the noise. It was as though someone had turned off the sound around him and without warning, suddenly started blasting it again. Takuya heard a man calling, "Shibuya, Shibuya Station." Wait, this was his stop. How was that possible when he still had at least two more hours to go?  
With Kouji's eyes out of his face, Takuya realized he was able to move again. He twisted his wrist to look at his watch. Three o'clock in the morning. That didn't make any sense; not two minutes ago, it had been one o'clock. He hadn't actually fallen asleep, right? No, he must have. That explained how illogical the experience with Kouji had been.  
He flung the other boy off of his lap, but instead of being surprised or unbalanced, Kouji gracefully landed off to the side, completely covering himself with the cloak again as Takuya frantically grabbed his luggage so that he wouldn't miss his stop. Despite being covered, Takuya felt those eyes following every move he made. He was afraid of those eyes.

_'At least I'll be leaving him behind now,'_ he thought as he prepared to step off, and he was extremely relieved. He even looked behind him as he exited the train, just in time, but could breathe still a sigh of relief to see that his tail was free of that cloak. That was all just so...weird. Who was that guy, anyway? Some kind of freakshow goth was all he could think of. Or just a nut who thought he was a phantom.  
Oh well. It didn't matter as long as he was gone.  
The train closed its doors and began to speed on, carrying the weirdo away with it. That was that; he'd likely never see him again. Good riddance.

Takuya yawned; while he'd apparently spent the last two hours napping, (that must be it. How else could two hours pass in the blink of an eye?) he still felt exhausted. And rightfully so; it was so late that it had become that time when it was impossible to differentiate it from early in the morning or late at night. He couldn't wait to just get home and fall asleep in his own bed. He started trudging along, already forgetting his minor conflict. It was no longer important in his little world, or so he thought.

With the guy slipping out of his mind in favour of a warm bed, it was a shock to see that black cloak suddenly flow into his peripheral vision. Even more disturbing was when he turned to face him, ready to bite back at him, and he saw that his hood was lifted just enough to show that grin, that mischievous little grin. There was something off about those perfect white teeth; he just couldn't put his finger on it.  
"Who ARE you?" he demanded, and this time, he actually saw Kouji click in teeth. What kind of person actually did that as a habit?  
"I am a lover."  
"What the hell...?" Kouji spread his arms wide, revealing his hands again and lifting his hood to reveal his eyes. He had such an honest face and such deep, emotional eyes, and such a gentle, soothing voice; it really was like a lover's voice. Why shouldn't Takuya trust him?  
"What do you want?" Takuya dropped his luggage as Kouji came within inches of his face again and gracefully wrapped his arms around him, embracing him as though they were, in fact, long-lost lovers.  
"I'm sure you can take a hint." Kouji was cold. With someone wrapping his body so completely around his, he should feel the warmth from that body very distinctly, even with Kouji covered from head to toe. But he was cold. Freezing. He was being held by a glacier.  
Kouji's icy lips found their way to his neck, and with a shudder, he realized even his breath, which still smelled so sweet and made him feel so full of delight, was cold. There was something peculiar about his body's smell, too; not necessarily unpleasant, but something...off. He was about to push Kouji away and start giving him a piece of his mind, but then Kouji kissed his neck, and instead of feeling cold, he felt heat. The heat of arousal. Takuya took hold of him too, ignoring the cold and ignoring how questionable it was to suddenly feel aroused by a complete stranger; a really weird stranger, at that. Kouji was tightening his grip until it was almost painful, and he hummed contently.  
"Like I said, I think you need some company. I wouldn't mind a little myself. And I think I'd like your company."  
So...this guy was following him around and hitting on him just because he wanted to have sex? That was totally creepy, but Takuya felt strangely flattered. This was the kind of thing that happened in sappy movies and poorly constructed love stories, not in real life. It was a lucky shot for him, and he doubted it would ever happen again. Kouji was digging into his soul again with those eyes, and he was suddenly very, very interested in Kouji's company.

"You two, pack it up and get moving. It's late, but there's still children here." Again, the sound around him started blasting out of no where, and he realized he'd forgotten there were a hundred people around them. A man who looked like some kind of janitor was glaring at them, and only then did Takuya realize just how awkward a position they were in. Kouji's face was hidden by his hood again, but he was sure that Kouji was glaring daggers at the man. He could hear a faint, almost animal hissing noise.  
He got himself to push Kouji off of him. What was he thinking? How could he even consider having sex with this freak, let alone be aroused by him? And he was a guy, for Christ's sake, that alone should be sufficient enough to close his mind to the thought. He was ashamed of himself afterwards for thinking that; he had nothing against gays, he just...he wasn't one.  
Trying to forget what had happened, he turned his back to Kouji and prepared to pick up his luggage. But Kouji wouldn't quit.  
"Why don't you bring me home?" he purred seductively, turning him around again and pressing into him. Takuya had a split second to think before he started falling into those eyes again, and he reached at the first decent thought he could.  
"My mother would never let you in." It was the best excuse he could think of at the time, and he realized afterwards, it was the best he had period. Kouji shied away from him, eyeing him warily, and without the mist taking over his mind, he really couldn't think of a better thing to add to that.  
"You still live with your mother?"  
"Well, I..." Except, now he felt embarrassed. Here he was, already considering himself an adult and a grown up man, and he was using the mother excuse. "I'm still only seventeen," he admitted. He hadn't thought Kouji would be much older than him, but maybe if he was a lot older and he realized Takuya was still technically a minor, he'd leave him alone. But instead of backing off, Kouji relaxed.  
"I see. I'm...sixteen." Kouji nuzzled him again, his sudden issues just as suddenly forgotten. "Then I'll just sneak in the back window."  
"I don't," he began, but Kouji's mouth met his, and though he didn't truly kiss him, Takuya was captured completely by the chaste kiss. Those lips made his hunger flare so harshly that it felt like being smacked in the face. And Kouji just stood there, pouting inches away from him with those lips, refusing to give him anymore. Those lucious lips pulled up into a smile, and though Takuya lunged hungrily at them, they were suddenly out of his reach.  
He would get Kouji home, no matter what.  
How strange that thought seemed; he was "bringing a boy home," and he'd yet to actually bring a _girl _home. The closest he'd ever gotten to sex was watching the videos he'd found on his father's computer.

He'd planned on walking home, so his luggage wasn't too heavy and wouldn't be a pain to carry, but Kouji insisted on bringing it for him. Takuya protested, afraid that while he had the strength to carry his bags, Kouji's fragile body wouldn't be able to handle it. He need not worry; the boy easily slung one bag over his shoulder, and drug the heavier two along beside him with total ease. He may as well have been carrying a few plastic bags stuffed with cotton balls. He just smiled that smug little smile, like he knew a secret Takuya didn't.  
For a moment, he wondered exactly why he was bringing this boy home with him so that he could...well, have sex with him...but Kouji's eyes met his again, and those pale lips curled into a questioning "o," and he started yearning for him. It was out of the question NOT to bring him home.

All too soon, he lost those eyes as he lead the way to a house which may not be his home soon, and again, he was ashamed of himself for the things he was imagining doing to Kouji. A complete stranger, of all people, and what's more, one who rarely actually showed his full face, let alone his full body.  
He very much wanted to see his bare body. It was so tempting.  
And at the same time, he very much wanted to get a hold of himself. He glanced over his shoulder again; Kouji was walking directly behind him, and his eyes were inches away. They blinked innocently, and Takuya wordlessly, obediently continued.

"This is it," he said awkwardly as they arrived, pointing at the family nameplate. He was embarrassed by it. Soon, that plate would read only his mother's and his brother's names, and his father and himself would be missing.  
"It's nice," Kouji said absently. "Do I need to sneak through a window?"  
Takuya looked his home up and down. No lights were on. Likely, at this time of night, his mother would be sleeping. But his second thoughts about the whole deal were starting to wither his interest in Kouji entirely, and suddenly, he was compelled to break it off. "I don't think that's necessary." He was about to expand upon this reasoning and say something like, "Because you aren't coming in," or, "Because we're parting ways right here." But he made the mistake of meeting Kouji's eyes again, and the effect was amplified by the fact that Kouji's face was almost completely visible. As he lost his breath, he lost his words, and with him standing there dumbly, Kouji decided to give him a push.  
"Then let's go to your room," he said huskily, and he boldly eased himself right next to Takuya, reaching down and confidently gripping the erection bulging in his jeans. Takuya made a little noise and nearly started moving into him to urge his hand to pleasure him, but with Kouji's face out of his sight, he recovered enough to have control over his actions.  
"Y-yeah."  
Kouji reached up and pecked him on the neck again. He still felt no heat from him, only ice, but the kiss released a heat in him that drove him to continue. He needed to get this willing boy into his bed so that he could unleash everything he desired upon him. He'd never felt such a primal need for sex before.

"I'm home," he whispered under his breath as he opened the door, hoping Kouji wouldn't hear. It was a bit childish, but he always, no matter what happened, had to announce to his mother that he was home, and usually, he expected to hear her respond, "Welcome home." But with divorce and separation so close on the horizon, he really wondered if he had any right to call this home anymore. He caught Kouji's eyes looking at him oddly, and felt the need to explain himself.  
"I...guess she is asleep, after all." He was still whispering, so quietly he could barely hear himself. Kouji hid his face in his hood again, and clicked his teeth.  
"Then let's go. Show me where your bedroom is." Kouji dropped his luggage and they fell to the floor with a dull 'thud!' Before he could blink, Kouji pulled him down by the neck of his shirt and started teasingly kissing him; never really giving him everything, but making him desperate for it.  
Completely forgetting that his mother existed and all that was going on in his life, Takuya pulled him close and tried to get him to bring his tongue out to _really_ show him how he kissed, but he was a painful tease, and he refused to let the kisses go deep. While in some, small way, Takuya acknowledged that his pale lips were freezing cold, his brain never quite registered that this was strange, and he continued urging for a kiss as he pushed Kouji into the door. He seemed to appreciate roughness, and in return, he gripped Takuya's arms so hard he thought that Kouji must be cutting off his circulation. How STRONG he was for such a small boy.  
Just as he managed to break open his mouth just a tiny bit to slip his tongue inside, Kouji pulled away with a cold breath. "How about that bedroom?"

Takuya was awkward leading the stranger to his room. Partly because he was still awkward in his own house, partly because he was still awkward around Kouji, and partly because Kouji was turning him into an idiot, and he couldn't think straight long enough to remember where his room was. He struggled to drag Kouji along as he broke down and began fighting for a kiss again, and while doing so, he tried to pull off his stupid cloak. He wasn't going to make-out with someone wearing that, that's for sure.  
Of course, Kouji seemed as determined to keep his cloak on as he was determined not to let Takuya in his mouth.  
Eventually, Kouji became the one pulling Takuya, and when they finally got to his bedroom, it was Kouji pushing him down into the bed and crawling on top of him. Takuya had lost interest in position; all he wanted to do was get inside Kouji's mouth. But Kouji still refused, meeting his seeking tongue with his frozen lips and pecking him innocently all over. Again, the second Takuya finally broke through the solid wall and, to his immense pleasure, began tasting him, Kouji pulled away.  
"Do you mind if I go to the bathroom for a moment?"  
Takuya was breathing harshly; yes, he minded, he wanted Kouji to come back into this fucking bed and to open his tasty little mouth. But he just nodded dumbly, and without another word, Kouji pushed himself off the bed and gracefully landed, then disappeared as quick as a shadow. Usually, when Kouji was out of his sight for more than a few seconds, he recovered and could think properly again. This time, he was knocked out for several minutes, and in the middle of it, he eventually began gripping himself through his jeans, preparing himself as he imagined Kouji and what they would do when he came back.

Takuya abruptly realized that Kouji had been gone for quite a long time, and as he turned to look at his digital clock, he was confused. He'd been gone for twenty minutes. That didn't make any sense at all. What was taking him so long?  
Too late, he realized that bringing a stranger into his home was a piss-poor idea. For all he knew, Kouji had somehow drugged him, and he was now looting the house while he lay back, helpless. He'd probably start feeling nauseated any moment now. He managed to grope around his lamp long enough to find its switch. At first he welcomed the light, then felt extremely dizzied by it. He held his head gingerly as he tried to recover; yeah, he must've been drugged somehow.  
"Takuya-chan," he heard Kouji whisper seductively again, and he sat up. He was hiding beyond the doorway, and Takuya could only see his shadow.  
"Where have you been?" he demanded immediately, and he just barely heard Kouji click his teeth in response.  
"I don't know what you're talking about. I've been gone for a minute or two, like I said."  
"But..." Takuya saw a hand with long nails reach around his door. It was a bare hand, and it was connected to a bare arm that he saw so clearly, he could see that it was bare of hair. It was so white it seemed to glow. His cloak was gone.  
"Ready, Takuya-chan?"  
Still partially convinced Kouji had stolen ten kinds of goods while he was incapacitated, but undeniably horny, he agreed. "Yeah."  
"Turn out the light."  
"Why?"  
"Please, Takuya-chan?" the voice pouted. Of course, how could he resist that?

He did. His eyes had quickly adjusted to the light, so the pitch blackness blinded him and he could barely see Kouji coming towards him. He blinked rapidly, struggling to get himself used to the darkness again when suddenly a flash of blue light illuminated his room. It was moonlight; Kouji had discovered his window and had pulled apart the curtains. Takuya turned to see him, and saw Kouji standing there, outlined in light. His heart stopped; he was completely nude, and he stood there, in front of the window, smiling mischievously. Seconds later he was settling himself right on his lap again, just like he'd done on the train. Takuya was stunned completely dumb, and he couldn't help but think that maybe this was why Kouji wore his cloak. If anyone saw how beautiful, gorgeous, and perfect he was under it, if they didn't die from the sheer beauty, they would have a heart attack out of pure lust.  
"You look happy." Kouji sounded very amused, and he was even more amused when Takuya greedily pulled him closer and began feeling him and petting him all over. He was so dumbstruck by his body and so mesmerized by his own arousal he didn't think twice about how Kouji's skin was cold as death, and that once his hands reached it, his maleness wasn't hard at all. It was just enough to be holding this perfect, perfect person, and he didn't care about unimportant things like that. Even though Kouji was in his lap now, hugging him close, the image of his naked body glowing in the moonlight was almost too much for him to bear.  
His body, oh, it was so perfectly, wonderfully shaped and sculpted. It was feminine, but strong, and lithe, but powerful. Every part of him was firm and yet soft, and reminiscent of a woman while still screaming of masculinity. Every muscle fluidly defined his body and there was not a single hair to be found on a single inch of his skin; it was smooth and silky and perfect, and glowing, snow white. And his hair, his beautiful hair that had been shoved in his hood and hidden from the world must have been torn from an angel's head. It was long and black as night and yet shining with nothing less than godly radiance. It had been hidden because of its lustrous beauty; the sight of it would cause ordinary people to weep. If there was a God, and He ever felt sexual desire, only something as perfect and beautiful as this person would be a satisfactory partner. Deities deserved this beauty; not a grungy seventeen year old kid with a less-than-perfect home life.  
Takuya almost felt that this perfect, perfect creature would suddenly fall back and tell him that he wasn't good enough to be gifted with such a treasure, but Kouji was as completely occupied with his neck as he was with his body, and he continued kissing it and licking it while he pushed Takuya down into the bed. Takuya tried to reach up to force him to open his mouth again, but Kouji only dealt with that for a few seconds before he forcibly pushed Takuya's head to the side. Takuya, still drugged on his beauty, allowed it, and didn't give it a second thought. Who cared what Kouji was doing? He was on top of him, naked, and that made him plenty happy. He was definitely ready to take him. He ran his hands down Kouji's thighs, and was once again reminded that while Kouji acted very aroused, he wasn't hard at all.

"Kouji..." Getting his name out was an enormous achievement. He could barely think, but talk? It was a mountain to climb. Kouji just clicked his teeth again, and when he thought to peek at him from the corner of his eye, he saw he was grinning again. With Kouji away from the window, it was so dark that it was difficult to really be blown away by his face and his eyes, but his teeth gleamed in the darkness. Something was very off. Why was Kouji grinning like that?  
"Kouji?" he managed again, suddenly concerned, but Kouji let his head turn just enough to peck him on the lips again, and he couldn't muster the energy to call him anymore. Kouji pushed his face into the bed to completely expose his neck. He was totally occupied with it now, and didn't seem concerned to cater to Takuya at all. He drooled on his neck, gently licking the saliva all over the skin and still occasionally kissing it tenderly. Takuya, being forced to look away from Kouji, began to recover. At first it was a tiny, picking doubt, and then it became a nagging worry. Something was very strange. Very strange. He pretended to still be completely drugged by Kouji while he lavished attention on his neck, but as he laid there, questions rattled his brain.  
Why WAS Kouji so cold? And if he was so desperate for sex that he actually came home with him, why was he not the least bit aroused? What's more, why was he completely ignoring Takuya, who was still completely dressed, in favour of his neck?  
He managed to move his head just enough to see past the hand that was forcing his face down, and Kouji didn't seem to notice that Takuya was now consciously watching him. He fought off the wave of lust and need that tried to encase him as he met Kouji's face, and though he was struggling for his sanity, he couldn't miss what finally happened. Kouji curled back his lips, and with a tiny moan akin to a person expressing sexual desire, he revealed two enormous fangs. Takuya acknowledged them, but couldn't quite understand what they could possibly mean, and he fought to get his slow brain to wrap around certain facts. Kouji had been wearing a cloak to protect him from light. He was freezing. He was obsessed with his neck. And he had two, huge fangs sticking out of his mouth.  
Did that mean he was some kind of...?

Kouji sighed a tiny moan again, and began rubbing one of his fangs with his index and thumb. Judging by the look on his face and the way he was breathing, he seemed to think that he was in the middle of masturbating rather than rubbing his own elongated tooth. As Kouji dipped his head down, his arms fell to either side of Takuya for balance. He wanted to scream, to force Kouji off of him and to demand what the hell was going on. Unfortunately, he was still confused and his wits were still recovering from Kouji's hypnotism. However, as luck would have it, Kouji did not think to continue mesmerizing him as his fangs met his skin.  
He continued making sexual noises as he testily rubbed his fangs against Takuya's neck, then slowly, surely, allowed them to penetrate his flesh. Takuya barely felt the pain, and while he was aware of two, thick fangs digging into his skin, he was strangely numb. It was only when he became aware that blood was trickling down his neck did his brain finally kick into action. It was screaming one simple command: MOVE.

Now that he was completely in control of his body, he jerked away and pushed Kouji off of him. He didn't look surprised or angry, or even somewhat confused. He simply began to move back in, completely calm, until Takuya pulled back and punched him square in the face. He fell off the bed in a hissing fit, and Takuya rolled off onto the ground, dumbly falling to his knees. He could barely stand properly; every limb was almost completely numb. He felt like a lifeless puppet whose puppetmaster hasn't quite mastered the strings.  
Kouji was hissing up a storm behind him and he forced himself to move, however awkwardly he did it, and he held a hand to his bleeding neck as he wobbled weakly to his door. He had to run. He had to get out of here, and he had to hurry. He was being chased by, by...a vampire, of all things; a flippin' vampire. He tried to scream for help, but his voice was strangely absent, and he could only wheeze the word, as quiet as a mouse.  
He turned on every light he came in contact with, totally enlightening the entire house as fast as he could. Light, light would stop a vampire. What else? He knew light was a vampire's biggest enemy...but garlic also stopped them! He fled to the kitchen, occasionally looking down at his blood-stained hand, and moaning in remorse. He'd escaped Kouji, and he hadn't managed to drink all of his blood. But because he'd been bit by a vampire, that meant... But he couldn't deal with it now. He had to find garlic.

Takuya felt like it took twenty minutes to reach the kitchen, when in fact, he was only stumbling around for two. He'd just reached the refrigerator when he felt something heading right for him. After taking a sucker punch to the face, he'd expected Kouji to be out cold for at least a few minutes, but that dull hissing could only mean one thing: Takuya was in trouble again, and probably worse than before with an angry vampire on his ass.  
Before Kouji could get to him, he dove into the refrigerator, hunting for garlic cloves, garlic spread, garlic butter, anything garlic! His search was in vain. It only took a few seconds for Kouji to reach him again, and suddenly his shoulder was being pulled by an ice cold hand. He was forced to turn and look at the demon who had pin-pointed him, Takuya, as his prey. The hissing completely stopped, and those big, blue eyes were turned up to maximum power. Only his face was visible; he'd hastily thrown on that black cloak to hide from all the light. Takuya nearly felt his legs melt, despite the fact that his heart was about to burst with fear.  
"You son of a bitch." Kouji's voice was different now. It wasn't seductive and sexy and begging for pleasure, it was cold, and carefully calculated to reveal no emotion, yet it was drenched sickeningly sweet with evil. It was also a little slurred; Kouji's fangs had gotten so thick and long that he couldn't properly fit them in his mouth anymore. Takuya's experience with movie-style vampires had left him imagining tiny, almost cute little canines that were only slightly longer and pointier, and occasionally they stuck daintily out of the mouth. Kouji's fangs were so long they were nearly to his chin, and were thicker than a molar. Takuya felt ill imagining those huge fangs digging themselves into his neck, and he wondered just how far they'd gotten.

"What are you?" Kouji teasingly clicked his teeth again, and as he grinned with his fangs protruding dangerously, yet comically from his mouth, Takuya felt almost right then that his fate was sealed.  
"I told you. I'm a lover. I want to love you, Takuya. Come here, come here and I'll let you kiss me." Kouji hadn't wanted to kiss him because he would feel his fangs growing. They certainly had once been a normal size, but had simply grown as Kouji had gotten closer and closer to taking his prey. And boy, had they grown. Even as they spoke, they seemed to be getting thicker.  
"G-get away from me." He tried to stumble away, but as hard as he fought, meeting Kouji's face was making him dizzy and slow again.  
"Oh, Takuya, you don't mean that. Look, I'll show you that you don't mean that." He wrapped his arm around his shoulders, pulling him close and hugging him lovingly. He kissed his neck again, pecked him, and then roughly grabbed him through his jeans. Takuya couldn't even believe he could possibly still be sporting an erection through this, but he apparently was; it was growing angry that it was unsatisfied, and it was just so happy Kouji was touching it. He moaned and put his hands on Kouji's shoulders, unable to stop himself from jerking his hips into Kouji's hand.  
"Yes, you like that, huh? I'll give you whatever you want, Takuya-chan, anything. I'll make you feel so good. I'll make you feel like you're _dying _from pleasure."

Takuya had it in him to push Kouji away one last time. Kouji, who was unused to his prey being so resistant, wobbled back, and it allowed Takuya one last option. He practically leapt to a cabinet and yanked it open, shoving through various spices until he found the only garlic item in the kitchen. He turned to Kouji with it, and he stopped moving, staring incredulously at Takuya holding it victoriously in his hands.  
"Garlic salt?"  
"Yeah, garlic salt. Garlic repels vampires, and salt repels demons, so this should be like a double-dose of hell for you, right? And trust me, I'll use it, don't even think you can try to get out of it." He held it in front of Kouji's face as if it were a dangerous weapon to be feared. He unscrewed the cap, expecting to hear Kouji hissing and to see him backing up any second.  
Kouji hid his face in his hood, and started clicking his teeth.  
"You... bastard...!" Takuya took a fistful of the cloak and pulled, hard, until he managed to yank off his cloak. It had simply been thrown on, not properly adorned, and a little pull was all it had needed to come off. The light bothered Kouji, and "bothered" was really the only word for it. It was a minor annoyance to him. He squinted his eyes and shook his head, as if a bit disoriented, but it didn't make him cower into a ball, as Takuya had hoped. Praying at least the combination would work, he picked off the plastic piece on the garlic salt that only allowed a bit through, and poured it on top of Kouji's head, expecting him to shriek with pain. As the granules mingled in his hair and fell down his body to the floor, Kouji just looked at him, as though he were simply the dumbest creature on the planet.  
"Are you quite finished?"  
Takuya dropped the garlic salt to the ground, and let the remainder in the canister fly all over the floor. He was trying to scream again, but could only release little sounds of fear as Kouji walked him into the side of the counter. He pushed his body on Takuya's until he was leaning over the smooth countertop, and garlic salt showered from Kouji's hair onto Takuya's face. He looked down at him with those grinning, gleaming teeth right in his face, the tips of his fangs dripping a clearish fluid onto his neck, and Takuya nearly fainted in terror.  
"Let's go back to your bedroom, Takuya-chan. I need you."

Takuya was left just slightly lucid enough to feel himself being carried as easily as he was lugged back to his bedroom. All the lights were left on until Takuya was safely back in his bed, and then Kouji pulled the drapes over the window. The room was dark, and while he was little more than uncomfortable in light, he was clearly happier in the darkness. Kouji relaxed, and slipped back into his sexy, sultry tone while he launched into a monologue.  
"You know, not many of you exist."  
Takuya couldn't bring himself to respond. He was not mesmerized; he was simply numb with fear.  
"There are people who can resist a vampire's charm long enough to elude them. Of course, as they and you find out, vampires always win. We've been doing this for a few thousand years." Kouji pushed his face away, revealing his neck again. The blood had begun to clot, and the bleeding had stopped. This seemed to disgust Kouji, and he pushed Takuya's face to the opposite side, revealing his fresh neck.  
"Vampires really aren't evil things, you know. We need to eat just like any human does. You need to kill something, plant or animal, to survive, so really, there's no difference." Kouji was drooling on his neck again. Takuya was observant enough to realize that it wasn't actually drool; Kouji's fangs were leaking a nearly clear gel onto his skin, and he was panting lightly as he did so. He thought of the other side of his neck, and figured that since he being kept sane enough to think, he might as well satisfy some curiousity before he died. Takuya decided Kouji was expecting him to do it, anyway. Why else leave him capable of asking questions?

"Why not drink the blood from the other side of my neck?"  
"Have you ever eaten...tomato soup? You know how when it's fresh, it's smooth and creamy and delicious, yet when it sits for too long, a nasty film covers the top? That's what happens with your blood. I don't want the nasty film, and I'd just as soon make a new hole."  
"If I...since you bit me and didn't finish, if you had just left me alone, would I have become a vampire?  
"It doesn't work that way. See this?" Kouji lifted his head just enough for Takuya to see the fluid dripping out of his fangs. The flow had thinned out, and it wasn't coming as prominently now.  
"Is that... what make me a vampire?"  
"It numbs your skin so you don't feel penetration, or if you do, it's not very uncomfortable. Our fangs are hollow, so we can eject fluid onto and into your neck. If we feel the need, we can deposit a special fluid containing a...the closest word I can think of for it would be 'virus' in you that will turn you into a vampire. It's optional, and very rare that we do it. Anyway, that's why my fangs grow thicker and longer: to allow the fluid to pass."  
"Do you...suck blood through your fangs?"  
Kouji snorted. "Common misconception. I'll show you how that works in a moment. Now..." Kouji tenderly kissed his neck again, and allowed his face to turn to his. Kouji kissed him again and again, and while at first Takuya was emotionless, having accepted that he was going to die, soon his face was red and pleading with lust. Resistant as he was, he couldn't take this vampire's seduction for very long. He groaned and begged shamelessly for Kouji to give him pleasure, and his consciousness slowly drifted and drifted deep into his mind. He could think in hazy images and meaningless words, but he had no concept of logical thought. While he could acknowledge Kouji was still talking to him and he was aware of feelings and movements, all his primal brain could think of, or what it thought of as "thinking," was whether or not he was being given pleasure.  
Kouji snuggled into Takuya, cuddling close and preparing his fangs at his neck again. Takuya was vaguely aware that Kouji's naked body was extremely cold, and that he was feeling a bit of discomfort at his neck, but he was more aware of Kouji's hand on his crotch, rubbing him firmly and surely. It felt good, so he was happy.

"Aren't you lucky...you get to listen to my voice as you die. You've put me in a talking mood." Kouji chuckled, and it was an extremely rusty laughing noise, as though he hadn't laughed without his teeth in years. "Vampirism is remarkably similar to sex. If you had a minute to think about it, you'd laugh at all the similarities. Then it becomes extremely clear why we take our prey by feigning sexual interest."  
Takuya became very aware that the fangs were lodged deep in his throat. He wondered how Kouji could keep talking, and he wondered if Kouji was really sucking out his blood through his fangs, but suddenly, he felt them being removed. Blood steadily began gushing up from the wound, and Kouji put his lips to it, moaning quietly in delight as the blood filled his mouth. He put his tongue to the wound to stop it from bleeding, savouring the blood in his mouth. All the while, the hand rubbed harder and harder, almost on its own accord. "You have sweet, delicious blood. Virgin blood tastes so much sweeter than the blood of any other person, and especially when it's young blood." He clicked his teeth. "Didn't I tell you? More connections to sex." He put his lips to the blood again, tenderly lapping up the drips before returning to the point of origin. He sighed in pleasure.  
Takuya grunted happily as his hand brought him closer and closer, and Kouji stopped drinking for a moment, trying to re gather his thoughts. "Vampires don't have orgasms. Actually, we're incapable of doing so. It's not possible for me to produce semen because at my body temperature, it's not possible for sperm to live. So my sexual organs have basically just shut down. You, however, still being a human, you're going to come four or five times before I finally kill you. We're remarkably adept at manipulating human bodies to that point, so the most decent of vampires will give you that favour before you die." As he finished speaking, Takuya felt an enormous wave of pleasure rush through him, and he gasped at the intensity of it. In his best dreams, he'd never experienced or imagined experiencing such a powerful orgasm, and it was even better considering how finely tuned his body was to feeling pleasure. He was whimpering and greedily jerking his body for more, and he calmed down when he felt Kouji's hand on him again. Kouji resumed suckling his wound.

"Vampirism is remarkably similar to sex, indeed," Kouji said again, as if reassuring him. "When you think about it, you'd think one was modeled off of the other. In both, a body part grows longer and thicker when the time calls for it. There's penetration, and it leaks a fluid to ease that penetration. It becomes extremely sensitive and it's pleasurable to touch." Takuya's simple mind was able to conjure up an image of Kouji rubbing his fangs before first biting his neck, and while not quite understanding the concept of mental connection, his mind also brought forth an image of a man from one of his father's videos who had masturbated momentarily before entering the woman.  
"And finally," he continued. "There's an exchange of fluid on both parties. You give me your blood, and I inject something that heals your neck wound, and speeds up your decaying process and transforms your muscles and such into a blood-substitute, so scientists can never quite figure out how you died. Extremely convenient, that."  
Kouji stopped long enough to put his head down on Takuya's chest. He breathed heavily and happily licked his lips, savouring and appreciating every drop before swallowing. "Some vampires drain their victim of blood in minutes, or even seconds. Me...I savour it like a fine wine. I can't imagine wanting to speed through something so wonderful. Then again, you might also compare it to a lover who holds off on his peak for a long time, only for it to explode out of him at the end." Abruptly, Takuya came again, jerking his body violently and groaning as he suffered through the pleasure, but Kouji barely took notice. His hand never stopped once, and kept its constant pace, even through the orgasm. Kouji simply returned to his neck, and he smiled, content as a child nursing from its mother.

"I told you when I first met you that I was sixteen," he said what seemed to be a few seconds later. "That was a lie. But I figured you'd never believe me if I told you my real age. My name is Kouji; or at least, that's the name I've gone by for quite a while; but you'd also never believe me if I told you my last name, either. You'd have thought I was mad." Takuya was vaguely wondering if Kouji actually thought he was listening to him. Not that he minded; he loved the smooth, melifluous voice careening in and out of his ears. It was such a soothing melody and it kept him from being angry for...er, whatever he was angry about...

"But, anyway, I was partially telling the truth. When I became what I am, and when my life basically ended, I was sixteen. I don't really regret it or think about it anymore; it makes me want to kill myself, and frankly, there just aren't that many ways to kill a vampire, so it feels pretty pathetic. We developed a tolerance for man-made light, and nowadays sunlight isn't really a big deal either; it just makes us a little weak. And, uh, that garlic thing? We built up a resistance to that in like, 1895. Most are resistant to salt, religious objects, and Ofuda, too."  
Takuya moaned and grabbed at Kouji as he came again. Kouji seemed amused as he looked between their bodies where his hand was still faithfully pleasuring him, and he clicked his teeth again. "You're getting wet down there; you're releasing a lot of come. Are you feeling really good?"  
Takuya's mind was trying to break free of its self-imposed prison. While it knew that coming was really good, it also knew that it was bad, because the more he came, the closer he was to death. He didn't want to die. The idea of death spurred his brain into functioning. But Kouji was still tenderly suckling his blood, and massaging his constant hard-on through jeans that were blooming with wetness, and as much as he wanted to live, he couldn't help but be content to just lie there.

"Sexual desire for humans is like a craving hunger. A large percent of you literally can't live without sex for very long periods of time, and even if you don't actually have intercourse, you invent interesting ways to please your bodies. Your hunger is equivalent to our hunger in that way, also. We can live without blood for quite some time, years in fact, and we get along with various substitutes. While vampires don't exactly bleed, there is a sort of fluid in our bodies that we can feed off of, though it's not nearly as nourishing. Vampires can live for months just by drinking their own fluid, though eventually we must come up with something with more substance." Takuya was getting so frustrated. He was fighting a battle with himself to THINK properly, and he just couldn't! It made him tense and he fidgeted, but Kouji just gently carressed his cheek again, and he settled down. An inner calm was starting to settle on him, and he fought that off too. He wasn't sure why; he was just sure that feeling perfectly at ease at this moment was probably bad.  
" Animal blood, while of much poorer quality than human blood, is also sufficient enough to sustain a vampire," Kouji continued. "In my opinion, the purest animal blood comes from ordinary housecats, and the sweetest comes from your ordinary domestic dogs. I believe this is because these animals spend so much time around humans that they have developed somewhat human qualities themselves. The poorest blood is from a rat. I hate rat blood." Takuya was still struggling to regain an ounce of human logic, but was overwhelmed by the primal urge again. This time he managed a short scream before Kouji put a hand over his mouth, and he shouted into his palm cries from the pleasure running through him.  
"I'm not really afraid of being caught; I just have sensitive ears and don't feel like hearing that. But I'm glad you're so happy." Takuya vaguely wondered how Kouji could make him come so hard just by rubbing his crotch through his jeans, and Kouji answered the question as though he'd been asked.  
"Vampires are just good at manipulating the human body. I want you to feel good and I want you to feel pleasure. I want it to be incredible for you and I want your last moments to be so intense that you feel like crying. I want to give something back to you in exchange for the gift you're giving me." As soon as he finished, Takuya did start crying. He'd lost his train of thought again, and it was impossible to manage thinking when he just kept coming and coming, and when Kouji kept him mesmerized and continued sucking his blood. His sadness was short lived; his simplified brain was capable of experiencing pleasure and acknowledging basic movements. Remorse, anger, and regret were too complex for him to grasp for very long. His mind was blessedly blank.

Kouji licked away his tears, and smeared blood on his cheeks. Takuya nearly started crying again, but was too focused on Kouji's hand. It was moving again, and it was going to make him come. He wanted that. He wanted it bad. He was moving up into his hand, pathetically begging to receive that pleasure. Kouji moaned as his mouth was completely filled with sweet, red blood, and Takuya gaped, unable to make a sound this time as another orgasm ripped through him. It just felt so, so good, he thought it would be this orgasm that would kill him, not Kouji. He was moaning for more, begging to be relieved again, but Kouji was pulling his hand away, and greedily pushing on his neck to speed the flow.  
He had said he would have come four or five times when he died, and while he didn't quite understand, he recognized that the previous explosion of pleasure had been his fifth orgasm. He wouldn't be coming anymore. He would just die.  
"I know you're sad. I know you don't want to die. But I'll make sure you're as happy as possible when you die. You won't even be able to realize you're dying; you'll just feel like you're contentedly floating away to sleep after you've hit your peak again and again." Kouji put his lips back to his wound. "We've been lying here for an hour."  
Takuya was just lucid enough to acknowledge the existence of his alarm clock. Kouji was right; he'd been sucking his blood for an hour, maybe over. It had felt like five minutes.  
"I like to slowly sip and savor my blood, but I don't think I can anymore. I need it so bad. There's so much left, and I can't resist anymore." Kouji began to lose his cool; he began biting around Takuya's wound, not necessarily to make new ones, but as if urging the blood to come faster. He was making the softest moaning noise as he drank and filled his mouth with blood. Though he'd been drinking for an hour, he'd barely taken a tenth of Takuya's blood. His heart rate was increasing and he was losing colour, but he was in relatively good health. Now, as Kouji drained him quickly, he recognized now that he was truly, really, dying. Dying. Could he accept that?

Images were floating into Takuya's head again. Now that he wasn't constantly coming, he was slightly capable of thought, and he could think of images and process the images similarly to thinking. An image of his family floated into his mind. What would they do if he died? Would they care? Would they stop fighting because of it? His image focused on his mother; oh, his poor mother. He'll die right under her roof and she'll never know. Momentarily he felt embarrassed that she would find him with his boxers and jeans soaked with semen, but embarrassment was also too complex, and it was short-lived.  
He focused on his father and Shinya, and while he had no thoughts for them, he thought of what they represented; he would never marry. He would never have children and be a dad. That hurt him; he wanted to grow up, marry the love of his life, have children, and live happily ever after; unlike his parents. He'd be a great father. But he couldn't be one now, because his life was being cut short. He didn't want it to end right here. He was so young. It was such a shame that he was being forced to end his life now.  
Images of all sorts of things carelessly floated through his mind; riding a bike, picking a flower, eating ice cream, watching a bird fly, going to school, talking with friends; he was losing all of this. He became determined to stop it. Momentarily he had a burst of clarity, and he was capable of thinking. He had to stop this. He had to _live._  
Anyway he could, he had to get out of here alive.

Kouji pulled away from him with a deep gasp, and blood dribbled shamelessly out of his mouth and down his own neck as he panted sensually. He was in bliss, and was paying no attention to Takuya's state of mind. Therefore, he was surprised when he heard Takuya speaking to him, but was so lost in his own pleasure that at first he could barely place the voice, let alone consider the request.  
"Kouji...make me a vampire too."  
"Ungh..." He simply returned to lapping up the blood. It was coming out very slowly now, and it was a chore to get it to come through. He'd have to start literally sucking it soon.  
"Kouji, please, please make me a vampire too. I want to live."  
"Mhmm," he replied, cuddling into Takuya and easing off of his frantic trip. He was breathing deeply and calmly, as if he'd personally just experienced an orgasm. He'd obviously heard these pleas before. "You don't want to be a vampire, kiddo. It sucks. Trust me, it's just not something you want."  
"I want to live. I don't care how I live, but I want to live." Takuya was whispering, helplessly slurring his words. He could barely see and breathe, let alone talk.  
"That's what I said, too. Please, I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I said it over and over again until he passed the disease on to me. And I've regretted it ever since." He pushed down Takuya's eyelids and pecked him on the lips again. Takuya's mind was going hazy. "Just fall asleep, Takuya-chan; it'll be over soon."  
"You fear death..."  
Kouji furrowed his brows and stared at the dying boy, searching for an answer in his sickly face. "What makes you say that?"  
"You say, 'I don't want to die, I don't want to die.' You fear death. But I...I say, I want to live, I want to live. I'm not afraid of death, but I don't want it...not yet...I want...life."  
"This is no life, Takuya."  
"Plea-" He seemed to stop breathing. The vampire lifted his limp eyelids; his eyes were blank, but focused. Out of his mouth came a pitiful, pleading noise. There was not much time left, and yet he fought so hard to make the time matter. Nevermind that it was really pointless and useless in the big picture; it just meant so much to him.

Kouji stared down in amusement at this boy who hung so strongly to life. He'd never changed anyone into a vampire before because of his own conscious; he'd never be able to force anyone to do this unwillingly. Even then, he'd promised himself, he'd never do it, never, even if they begged him. He knew there was no life in being a vampire, and that once he really understood what it meant, Takuya would regret not choosing death. He knew all of this, and he nearly ignored him. He had no choice; the brunet wanted life, and he didn't have "life" as a choice.  
But...he liked this boy. And he'd been lonely for a long, long time. He'd been considering committing suicide for decades, but had refrained, knowing how incredibly painful it would be to kill himself. There were setbacks to this whole "immortality" thing.  
And he liked Takuya. He interested him. He was so lonely...  
He was a nasty human. No good ever came of humans but blood, not in his experience.  
But he did kind of like this one...  
But he PROMISED he wouldn't...  
Takuya closed his eyes. He was still gaping silently, still struggling to plead for life when his own was already nearly exstinguished.  
This human wasn't so bad. Maybe.  
Kouji aligned his fangs to match the wound, then paused. Would Takuya's body even accept it? He was so far gone; maybe it was impossible to bring him back. Whatever he did, he'd have to do it fast. Kill him? Suck the rest of his blood, and then just leave? Sure, this boy would haunt his dreams for just a few nights, but he'd be able to forget about him. Soon. He forgot everything eventually; nothing lasted forever, and sometimes he could barely remember things that happened merely years ago. This one boy would not torment him, as many other things did. He was nothing special.  
Just this one decision. Let him die amongst his pleas of lunacy, or force him into a life of constant pain, and forced slavery to a sick hunger that made him something inhuman.  
Or sooth his own pain, and sooth his own loneliness.

Kouji had once heard that releasing the necessary fluid was extremely pleasurable in order to encourage vampires to eject it. Perhaps, in a state of his own lunacy, that's what made him dig his fangs deep into Takuya's neck again, and allow the venom to seep into his veins.  
As Takuya came to, it was to loud, violent screams of pleasure, louder than Takuya had ever screamed in climax as Kouji clawed angrily at the bed, tearing it to pieces as he suffered. Hearing that ghastly wail and feeling the fluid running into his veins that would eventually make him a vampire, Takuya almost wished he were dead.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: You ever just write one of those fics where you want everything to be historically and geologically accurate, and somehow, as you're researching the areas, everything just falls into place absolutely perfectly?  
Yeah, that's what happened here.

Red Tone

Takuya slowly opened his eyes, then immediately wanted to go back to sleep. It was gray dawn, and it was way, way too early to wake up now. There wasn't even school today; he should be sleeping in until noon. He closed his eyes and snuggled into whatever was lying beside him. It wasn't warm, and come to think of it, he didn't feel any kind of warmth at all, but it was comforting. He sighed happily; back to bed for him.  
"So, you are still alive, huh, little survivor?"  
Takuya became abruptly aware that he was not alone in bed, and in a rush, everything came back to him. He gaped at Kouji, who was lying on the opposite side of the bed with fly aways of hair all over his face, looking very content. If he were to step back from the bed, Takuya might look at the scene on the bed as two contented lovers. And ironically, had Kouji been a normal human and had Takuya made it back to bed with him, this might have been precisely how they would have wound up in the morning afterwards. And then, in the coming of dawn, they may have made love again before Kouji was forced to leave.  
However, as everything came back to him, Takuya realized the ultimate inconsistency with this situation.  
"I'm alive," he said in wonder, and then repeated it just to acknowledge that it was true. "I'm alive!"  
Kouji was looking at him with a brow ever so slightly raised, wondering what all this early-morning bother was about. Takuya started getting suspicious. Had none of that really happened? Had he been hallucinating the whole thing somehow, and in reality, he'd taken a stranger home last night, had sex with him, and had just dreamt a very bad dream?

"Did all of that..."  
Kouji nodded as best he could while on his side, then yawned. His fangs had shrunk, considerably, until they were passable for normal canines. Looking closely, it was easy to tell that they were slightly longer than normal, but, well, odds were Kouji never let anyone very close to his mouth; not unless they were a meal.  
"I'm..." Takuya sat up on the bed. He looked at his hands, arms, legs, every part of him. Nothing seemed different. He put a hand each to both of his neck wounds; they were gone. He could find no blood on the bed, on his skin, or anywhere else. He seemed to be exactly the same as he'd been last night, before...everything. Kouji, however, now had grayish skin instead of merely pale, and had developed thick, black bags under his eyes from exhaustion. His hair was all over the place, frizzy, not quite as flawless as he remembered it, and though his breath was practically rancid, the rest of him remained odorless. Amongst all this, he seemed to be dozing peacefully.  
It hadn't really happened, right?  
"Kouji?" Takuya shook his shoulder, urging him to wake up. "Kouji?" He opened an eye and grunted in response. "Did you...did you really do it?"  
"It was either that, or turn you into a blob of useless, dead meat." Takuya was stung. "You wanted to live, so now you're alive. Hope you're happy. I'm not sure whether I'm perfectly at ease with the world, or disgusted with myself." Kouji gracefully rolled over the edge and stood in one fluid motion. Takuya barely noticed at all; he'd become concerned with his mouth and was feeling his teeth in horror. His canines had once been very dull and didn't particularly have any feeling, as teeth really don't. But as his fingers ran over them, he realized his canines were just slightly, slightly pointed, more than they had once been, and as they touched him, he felt a tiny jolt of arousal. They were so _sensitive_ all of a sudden. He was suddenly painfully aware of just how wet his jeans were, and of the musky scent that was drifting into his nostrils because of it. But hadn't Kouji said vampires couldn't get off...?

As if reading his mind, Kouji stretched, turned to Takuya, and in a mocking tone, said, "You're still partially human. You've only been infected for an hour or so, so you're still developing. In another few hours, you'll lose complete feeling in your genitals and frankly, you'll barely ever look at them again. Pleasure will come from these," he pointed to his fangs, "not these." And he pointed to his groin.  
"So I really am..."  
"Congratulations, you've just been granted immortality. Which means you're going to 'live' forever. Have fun with 'life.'" And Kouji began to move as though he were about to walk away. Suddenly extremely fine tuned to movement, though Kouji had barely finished shifting weight, Takuya caught it immediately.  
"Wait, you aren't really going to leave me, right?"  
Kouji looked back to Takuya, then his cloak, then Takuya. "Vampires don't travel in packs. We're solitary hunters."  
"Yeah, but...you can't just totally leave me alone. I don't know what to do."  
"Weren't you listening to a word I said while I was drinking your blood? Use that as a base and expand on it." Despite sounding as though he was firm in leaving, he didn't. Takuya was now also finely tuned to emotions, and especially to feeling. It was remarkable. He could feel just how content Kouji really was after not only drinking so much blood, but releasing the vampire fluid, which had, in fact, brought him a lot of pleasure. As a result of this finely tuned instinct, he could immediately pick up that Kouji actually wanted to stick around with him, and very much so.

"I'll be right back."  
"Please, don't leave me-"  
Kouji was suddenly on top of him, and gently pushed him into the bed. He pecked him and nipped his neck playfully, and Takuya fell back, dazed. When he found himself shaking his head and looking up, he was alarmed to find Kouji pulling up a pair of tight fitting jeans, and in the process, was unconsciously shaking his rear at him.  
"Damn things," he was saying. "If my ass weren't so small, I'd wear something twice this size."  
"Uh..." Kouji looked over his shoulder, annoyed.  
"What? Never seen a guy get dressed before?" Takuya shook his head, and closed his mouth. He hoped he wasn't blushing.  
"No, I'm just wondering precisely how one minute you're starting a make-out session with me, and the next, you're getting dressed in normal clothes that normal people wear. I don't know what to be more suspicious at- whether or not you just knocked me out and did some other vampire equivalent to sex, or how you got those clothes."  
Kouji clicked his teeth. Now, it almost sounded like laughter. "I was wearing clothes under my cloak, you know, I wouldn't just walk around naked. I've been keeping them in the bathroom." He was slipping into a thick, dark blue jacket, and he cuddled up in it, sighing gratefully. Takuya wondered if vampires actually felt how cold they were and actively sought warmth because of it. He tried to assess his body temperature; he wasn't really cold, but he wasn't warm, either. And in the middle of summer, he should at least feel a little warm.  
"So...what did you just do to me?"  
"That? Hmm, call that a love nip." Kouji winked at him, and seeing the disturbed look on Takuya's face, he explained further. "Oh, you're still half human, so I can mesmerize you for a few minutes with things like that. Once you're really a vampire, none of it will work on you."  
"Not at all?"  
"Not at all."

Takuya looked hard at Kouji's face. Before, meeting those eyes so confidently and so surely would have sent him spiraling into passionate need. Now, while he was still in awe at the sight of them, he was perfectly in control of himself.  
"See?"  
"How does a vampire hypnotize a person just by looking at them?"  
"Very carefully. We'll do a little Q&A session once we get out of here." Kouji ignored the stunned look on Takuya's face as he moved to his only window, considering its location and whether or not it was a safe escape route. It would be convenient, he was thinking, to simply climb onto the roof, and jump from house to house until they got to the train station, and arrived at the place he personally called home. But with Takuya being such a newbie vampire, he'd probably slip and break his neck, and then what would he do with him? Go into a hospital where there was lots of blood that would drive him into a frenzy? Oh, that would be funny.  
"Kouji?" He finally turned to acknowledge Takuya, and before being barraged by questions, he attempted to answer as many as he could in one, fell swoop.  
"Of course you can't stay here or live here like a normal person. You'd eventually be caught. Can you imagine the hysteria? A vampire in Shibuya! No, you aren't going to need to drink blood for a few hours. However, since I've drained you of most of your fluid, you are going to need to feed soon. That probably makes you sick now, but in a few hours, you'll be craving it. If it really, really bothers you, I can kill someone for you, let you drink their blood, and you can feed off of my fluid for a few days while you get used to it. The transformation from human to vampire could take minutes, or it could take hours. You seem to be developing very slowly, so let's be grateful for that, since you can still walk around and pass as human, and you won't feel any...desires...for a while. Now," Kouji swiped at his cloak and adorned it in one quick motion, nestling his hair into his hood and pulling it over his eyes. "Let's go ahead and get out of here."

Takuya was dumbstruck. Kouji was expecting him to leave with him? Now? Just like that? He wasn't even a vampire yet! And what's more... "Kouji, I need to take a shower."  
Kouji clicked his teeth, and this time, it sounded somewhat like disapproval. "I don't know for sure, but I've heard rumors that vampires can be weakened or killed by prolonged exposure to water. You might want to avoid it."  
"Kouji..."  
"Hmm?"  
"I smell like come."  
Click, click, click, this time, in amusement. It was odd how Takuya's ears were so sensitive to sound now; how quickly he picked up on Kouji's mood. "Change your clothes. The smell will wear off in a few hours; vampires have no odor. If they did, they'd stink of rot and decay, which at any rate is much worse than smelling like sex. Anyway, it'll help you pass as human. No one will notice as much the scent of sex as they will no scent at all."  
"...My mother..." Kouji looked at him pityingly.  
"We should leave before this becomes even more painful for you."  
Takuya looked down at his hands. A vampire. He was just going to walk away from his home, from his family, from people that he loved, because he was a vampire now, and he didn't belong with any of it. He felt his pointed tooth with a finger; had this really been what he wanted?  
Sadly, he agreed, and began to change. Kouji had no sense of modesty and didn't bother to look away as Takuya undressed, and while he hadn't felt uncomfortable with those eyes for quite a few minutes, Takuya was getting a bad feeling again as they watched him like a hawk.  
"I'm a vampire, remember. I get nothing out of this." Kouji had an uncanny mind-reading sense. "I'm just watching you to make sure you aren't trying anything stupid. Your emotions are a train-wreck, and you aren't completely immortal right now. Humans have extremely creative methods of killing themselves when they really, really want to."  
"Yeah, well," Takuya started, and it was all he said.

Minutes later, Takuya was out on the street and walking beside a dark, shadowy figure whose only real visible feature was his chin. Where they were walking, Takuya had no idea. He figured the only thing he could do would be to follow Kouji, since he was completely lost as to how he was supposed to survive now, and as long as Kouji didn't mind having him around, he intended to stick with him. The only things he brought with him were the very clothes on his body now: green cargo pants, a plain white shirt, and a long sleeved red jacket, just in case vampires really did feel cold. For a few seconds he felt Kouji repeatedly look over at him, until he eventually tried to open a conversation. Or, at least, Takuya assumed it was an opening to conversation.  
"You look like walking Christmas." As it were, Kouji had not been required to start up a proper conversation for roughly six decades, thus his inability to present a good topic.  
"Thank you. I like feeling cheerful when my life has just been totally blasted to hell."  
"Which was not my fault, if you recall," Kouji reminded him sharply. "I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't begged like that."  
"...I know." Takuya sighed. "I guess I should've thought that over a bit more, huh? Or maybe you just should've killed me and ignored me." Kouji's face was still invisible, but he could feel him scowling.  
"I tried to warn you."  
"You were so persuasive and insistent."  
"I'm completely loving the little guilt trip that you're unnecessarily putting me through."

Takuya held out his arm to stop Kouji from crossing the street at a red light, but though Kouji didn't seem to be looking at where he was going, he was very aware of his surroundings. He'd stopped before Takuya had even lifted his arm, and he began the moment the light became green again, all while never looking up from his hood. He seemed to be leading them back to the train station, but how he did it without ever looking where he was going, Takuya didn't have a clue.

"Do vampires celebrate Christmas?" Takuya offered, trying to ease any friction between them. It wouldn't be smart to annoy his only guide; not smart at all.  
"Think about that question. I'm an undead demon. Most of us cannot walk on holy ground. Until 1947, a cross was an extremely unpleasant object for me to run across, and until 1774, holy water was like acid to me. And you're asking me if vampires celebrate the birth of Christ."  
"I'm sorry I asked." And he was.  
"Don't be. It's good to learn what you should and shouldn't avoid," Kouji replied, this time more gently. He was consciously trying to ease his tone. "No one was ever very specific as to what killed or harmed a vampire, and what didn't. And as we evolved and grew a resistance to certain things, for some reason, humans never acknowledged them."  
Takuya considered that. "Is this like how the flu virus develops immunity to vaccines after a few strains?"  
"Precisely, think of it that way since I've already used the virus as an example to vampirism anyway. So, while some strains of vampire are resistant to certain things, they're still weak to other things. And some things we just aren't weak to at all. If you can believe it, the old Romans thought we were harmed by LEMONS, for crying out loud."

The sun was beginning to rise, and Takuya's eyes were tearing as though he were looking into an extremely bright light. He blinked repeatedly and tried to shade his eyes with a hand, but the light was extremely unpleasant. He'd always expected vampires to smoke and disintegrate into dust after being exposed to sunlight, so while it was a pain and it was uncomfortable, he was grateful that this was ALL that was happening.  
"So, do you have any money?" Takuya squinted through the light. They'd reach the train station, and were standing in the front, not quite going in.  
"You told me I didn't have to bring anything."  
"I assumed that when a human was told 'not to bring anything,' they would always bring three things. Their keys, their wallet, and a personal object of choice."  
"...What's ridiculous about that is that it's perfectly true. However, I took you literally, and actually didn't bring anything."  
"No problem. Stay here. Do not move." Kouji slunk away into the station. Takuya immediately disobeyed him and followed him in, but lost him in the crowd in three seconds flat. For so early in the morning, there were quite a few people out. He repeatedly turned around, scanning the people for Kouji, unsure of exactly how he could lose a dark black cloak in a sea of business suits and t-shirts. Kouji seemed to have a knack for completely disappearing. It was making Takuya uneasy to be left alone, especially now that he was getting a headache and was very dizzy.  
"Here we are." Kouji appeared behind him, and it nearly gave Takuya a heart attack. He was feeling extremely conspicuous and like he didn't belong here at all, being a non-human and all.  
"Is there enough money in here for two people to ride a train to Shizuoka? The economy changes way to often for me to keep up with it, especially when I don't need to use money very often."  
Takuya realized he was holding out a leather wallet, and he eyed it suspiciously. "Where did you get that, exactly?"  
"I borrowed it."

There was more than enough money in the wallet, and Takuya absolutely insisted on turning what remained into "Lost and Found" rather than keep it. The sun was really shining as their train arrived, and Kouji actually had to grab Takuya's arm to lead him because of his lack of vision. The sun was _bright._ He couldn't remember the last time the sun was so bright, and so hot. It was even stinging his skin, and his eyes felt like he wasn't just looking into a bright light, but actually pushing against the light bulb with his eyeballs.  
"Apparently, the spawn of a vampire will inherit some of his resistances," Kouji was muttering as he threw Takuya onto an open seat. "I guess you're an exception." Takuya was concerned that Kouji was talking like this in public, but again, Kouji comforted his thoughts before he even voiced them.  
"I'm whispering. You can only hear me because your hearing is so much better. With all the conversation going on, no one will hear me, or you, if you still have some questions."  
"I have an excellent question. Can I wear your cloak?" Kouji didn't respond for a moment, and when he did, the response was strained.  
"I don't look human enough. This may come as a surprise to you, but there are quite a few physical differences between vampires and humans, if you cared to notice." Kouji sat down beside Takuya, obviously making up his mind before bothering to explain more.  
"Why not?" Takuya hissed. "Let me wear your cloak! You look fine under it; hell, fine isn't nearly enough of an adjective!"  
Kouji smirked. Takuya could feel the smugness radiating off of him in waves. He could almost absorb it himself, though he had nothing to be smug about. "When I'm trying to tempt prey, my appearance shifts into a sexy, sultry human, though I personally think it changes to whatever the prey itself wants to see. When I'm not trying to seduce someone or I'm dealing with sun, I just look half-dead. At the very least, I look extremely sick, and it would draw attention to us. The sunlight won't kill you, anyway."  
None the less, because Takuya continued complaining about his eyes, Kouji slyly glided off to another compartment in the train. Minutes later, he returned with a pair of nice, dark sunglasses.  
"I honestly don't know who wears sunglasses at nearly eight in the morning," Kouji said as he placed them over Takuya's eyes. Relief! He could see again and his eyes finally stopped watering. His skin was still stinging, but as long as his eyes weren't on fire, that was fine.

Kouji returned to his seat, and laid back. "So, we've got a bit of a ride ahead of us. Time for Vampire Q&A Session Number 1."  
"...Why are my eyes on fire and you can be naked in bright light and have it not bother you?"  
"That was man-made light, not nearly as powerful as actual sunlight. My skin tingles a bit when I meet sunlight, and my eyes feel quite a bit of discomfort, too."  
"How does one develop a resistance to it?"  
"Very, very carefully. Do not go near fire, by the way. Ever."  
"Why are vampires resistant to some things and not others? And how exactly do you become resistant to these things?" He was remembering Kouji's little spiel about vampires being immune to garlic since the nineteenth century.  
"Well, stuff like garlic just got so overused that it was impossible not to develop a resistance to it. Sometimes you just do it naturally, and sometimes, like I said, you're just transformed with a natural resistance. For instance, I strongly doubt that you'll be harmed by salt or garlic, because I'm extremely resistant to those two things. Some things just lose their potency as the population changes. Hundreds of years ago, religion was an extremely sacred concept. But within the past hundred or two hundred years, humans have started going, 'Well, screw that,' like it's not important anymore. Holy Water is water blessed by a priest, and because there aren't any priests as dedicated to their religion as they used to be, Holy Water just lost its potency. The cross was more of a religious _symbol,_ which is why it kept its power for so long, but like I said, by 1947, most humans had lost touch with the true meaning of their religion, and thus, the cross lost its potency. That doesn't necessarily mean all vampires are resistant to crosses and Holy Water; that's just me."  
"True meaning of their religion?"  
"Any religion is practiced, these days, with extreme vagueness. A man calls himself a Christian but doesn't go to church, celebrates Christmas by getting drunk and buying himself a new car, cannot recite a single word of the Bible and doesn't even know the date that Christ died. And then, too many people jump from one to the other, and some take on a religion just to sport a nametag, like it's really cool for someone to introduce themselves as an Atheist or a Wiccan. A lot of people aren't even consciously apart of any religion and don't even think to themselves that it's strange that they don't have any beliefs. Religion has sort of become nothing, and is a vain illusion that an extremely small percent of the population care to indulge in."  
"What was your religion before you, you know, became a blood sucking fiend?" It was a random question, not meant to delve into Kouji's personal life, (or lack thereof) but it immediately caused him to clam up. He scowled as he contemplated the question.  
"Why do you care?"  
"I don't, really. I'm one of those people who sort of moves on with day-to-day life without concerning myself with religion. I was just curious what you used to be."  
"...Buddhism. Let's get on another topic."

That wasn't good enough for Takuya; he now felt the desire to ask Kouji everything about himself, not just things about vampires. "How old are you?"  
"Another topic."  
"What century were you born in?"  
"Another topic." Takuya was getting annoyed now. If Kouji was going to be hiding things from him, how could he know if he could trust him?  
"Look, I already know you're at least two hundred years old. Why not just tell me?"  
"What if I'm not two hundred years old?" Kouji returned slyly. "I mean, I'm a bloodsucking fiend. I could just be lying. Do I honestly sound like I'm two hundred years old?"  
When Takuya thought about it, no, Kouji didn't sound as though he were fifty years old, let alone two hundred. His speech and manner of talking was just all so modern. "It can't be hard to just...pick up on ways of speaking and stuff. Especially if you need to talk your...uh, prey...into fake sex, er, giving their blood to you." Takuya hesitantly looked around again, still afraid that other people were listening. "But man, why can't you just tell me how old you are?"  
Kouji sighed. "Because you're going to figure out my name eventually afterwards, and that's going to be unpleasant."  
"What's wrong with your name?"  
"Nothing, I-" and Kouji just suddenly started laughing at himself, shaking his head. "I don't even know what I'm going on about. No one has really, really cared about names or clans for hundreds of years. Anyway, my name," he paused for dramatic effect. "-is Minamoto."

Despite having just told Takuya that he wasn't expecting a reaction, he clearly was, and Takuya could feel disappointment radiating off of him after not receiving much of one.  
"Oh. That's a cool name." Further disappointment. "All that tells me is that you're very old, which I already knew. Minamoto is a very old name."  
"Do you not learn history in school anymore?" he nudged impatiently.  
"Sure we do. What, is your name like, special or something?"  
"Well, who do you know in history that's named Minamoto?"  
"...A lot. Because it's a very old name."  
"Very, very old name," Kouji confirmed.  
"Like, single-digit century old."  
"Indeed."  
"Like, Minamoto Yoritomo old."  
Kouji clicked his teeth, and gears started working in Takuya's head.  
"Wait..."  
"Minamoto Yoritomo was my grandfather," Kouji informed him, and Takuya practically fell off the seat in shock.  
"That...that makes you like a thousand years old!"  
"About seven hundred and ninety-two, actually. My father was Minamoto Yoriie. Of course, that means my name really isn't Kouji, since that name didn't exist back then. But I'd rather not mention it."  
"You're directly related to a shogun! THE shogun!" Kouji was much more satisfied with these reactions than the ones he met after revealing his name, and pleasure was pulsing off of him. He was clearly proud of his lineage. Takuya also started to feel extremely proud, though for what reason, he was unsure.  
"That's why I didn't want you to know my name or religion. I didn't want you to freak out about who I was or anything. I figured you'd recognize Minamoto, and you must know that Buddhism was extremely popular during that era, so you'd eventually figure it out. Of course, no one can ever know what happened to me, especially not now. People assume that I died in battle. I would like to keep it that way."  
"Yoriie only had one son, and he was killed after he assassinated...aah, that one guy."  
"Yeah, well." Kouji was suddenly defensive. "I wasn't exactly legitimate."  
"Therefore, you're not technically a Minamoto because your father had it going on with another woman and spawned you illegitimately."  
"Next question." And Kouji refused to say anything else regarding the subject.

"Well, backing up a bit, what are you resistant to?"  
"Man-made light and garlic, for one. Some vampires are still weak to any kind of light, but most got over the garlic thing. Holy Water sort of bruises my skin a bit, but nothing bad happens. Crosses do nothing. Salt is a little itchy, but otherwise, nothing happens. I can walk on holy ground, but I can't stand the thought of being inside a church. Just...thinking about it repels me. I don't even have to be in it. For the record, I'm not weakened by LEMONS, thank you."  
"...What really hurts a vampire?"  
"Like I said, depends on the strain. But we all have three major weaknesses in common, and every vampire shares the same weakness. Light. It may not kill us, but it weakens us and causes us discomfort. I'm on the farther end of the scale and can tolerate it, but some literally just burn up when they come in contact with sunlight. Fire. Every vampire is deathly afraid of fire. Not only because fire causes light, which is uncomfortable at the least, it's just that our bodies just have an extremely low tolerance for burns. Have you ever heard of people setting themselves on fire to commit suicide, and thinking, 'That's horrible; why would someone do that?' I guarantee that maybe not quite half, but at least four out of ten of the people who set themselves on fire were vampires. It's one of the sure-fire ways (no pun intended) to kill yourself, thus why I haven't yet, because it's extremely painful. Lastly, we die if we're decapitated. Enough said."  
"What if you came in contact with like, really high levels of radiation or something?"  
"I don't really know what happens there," he admitted. It was the first time Takuya had heard him be unable to at least give a reasonable response, and Takuya was surprised. "I believe I once heard of a vampire who was present during the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown, and I think he survived just fine. But then again, radiation causes burns, right? So, I'm not sure."  
"What about a stake through the heart?"  
"I don't think vampires actually use their hearts, therefore, why would stabbing it kill us?"  
"Why do vampires only drink blood?"  
"Because it's cool. Seriously, why would I know?" He was becoming defensive again. He didn't like being unable to answer questions; Takuya could feel that immediately.  
"Can vampires eat normal food?"  
"Well, we can eat it. But we don't digest it or get any nutritional value out of it, and frankly, it just tastes unpleasant after you get your first taste of blood."  
"Is there nutritional value to blood?"  
"This falls under the 'How the hell do I know' category."  
"...Where...the _hell_...do vampires live where they don't get caught?"  
"You assume there are a lot of us?"  
"Just listening to the way you talk, yeah, I do."  
"One moment, the train is stopping."

Takuya's head was spinning as he tried to absorb all of the information he was learning, and what's more, it wasn't helping that his hands still felt as though they were on fire. He was really grateful he'd worn a long sleeved jacket, but man, his face was stinging as bad as a really serious sunburn. Kouji sensed his discomfort and put his hand, still hidden in his cloak sleeve, over his, and then laid his head on Takuya's chest, blocking his neck from light. It wasn't much, but it was a relief. Any inch of his skin he could protect was good. He sat on his other hand, and though it stung painfully for a few minutes afterwards, it was better than leaving it in the light.  
"Kouji, I need to get a cloak like yours. Stat."  
"We'll stop at a mall or something when we get to Shizuoka." He nuzzled into Takuya's chest, and he shrunk away, suddenly wondering if there was an alternative reason for his closeness.  
"Kouji?"  
"Mhmm?"  
"Do vampires try to seduce each other because you can take something from them, like humans?" He did not answer, but instead, removed his head from Takuya's chest, exposing his neck to the light again. It stung.

"Where do you live?" he continued. There was approximately twenty minutes of their train-ride remaining, and Takuya intended to make the most of it. He wanted to know anything useful about vampires.  
"That depends. Are you asking for a general location? Or are you literally asking, 'Where do you live,' as in, do I live in a house, an apartment, a tree?"  
"Whatever." Kouji made a strange panting noise; Takuya took it as one of Kouji's very peculiar ways of laughing. "And man, you really need to learn how to laugh."  
"I'll keep that in mind," Kouji patiently agreed, as though talking to an immature child. "And you'll find out where I live soon enough."  
"...Is there room for me there?"  
"Why, Takuya, lovers don't usually move in until the relationship has progressed for months." He was teasing him, and he didn't appreciate it.  
"I just need somewhere to stay until I figure things out," he grunted.  
"And you can." His tone softened, and he lifted his hood enough to reveal his eyes. They were suffering from deep wrinkles, but they were still so blue, and so honest. Whether Takuya was still addicted to those eyes because he was still partially human, or whether Kouji had lied and his eyes were hypnotizing even on a vampire, he wasn't sure. "Like I said, vampires don't travel in packs, but sometimes, they travel in pairs."  
"How come?"  
Kouji paused, then: "Some reason."  
That was the last straw. "Look." Takuya turned to completely face Kouji, and lifted his hood enough so that he could see his full face to glare right at him. "I get that you're a big secretive guy. But I don't think you really understand, so I'll say it now: you're responsible for me. You're the one who did this to me, and it's your fault that I'm like this now. And if I got caught or got killed or something because of a nice little loophole you never mentioned, that's completely on your conscious. So I need to know, should I avoid other vampires because they can kill me? What EXACTLY do I need to avoid? Can I mingle with crowds on a regular basis, or do I have to stay secluded to avoid being caught? Can I get sick? If I do, where to I go to get better? I can't exactly go to a doctor, you know. So you need to be honest with me about a lot more than you are. Every time I ask you about vampires and immunity, you mention the same things over and over again, and I know there's got to be more than that. You're still hiding stuff about you from me, and you're avoiding questions. Just...answer me."

Kouji was not moved at all, and stiff as a board, he coolly just said back, "Do you think he even so much as looked at me as soon as he was done using me?"  
"...Who?"  
"Kugyo," Kouji hissed, and Takuya felt pure, utter contempt burning from him. "The son of a bitch who was my brother. He made me a vampire. Do you think I had anyone to fall back on to help me?"  
"...Well..." Takuya was embarrassed. Of course, Kouji could've just left him to die, but he couldn't recant his entire speech, so he simply said: "Kugyo; that was Yoriie's legitimate son, right?"  
"The arrogant bastard thought he deserved everything. If he didn't have something, he demanded it. He was so selfish, he'd even kill his own uncle, my uncle, Minamoto Sanetomo, if he thought he could get away with it. He was mugged and killed one day by a rogue descendant of the Taira clan, but no one ever knew about it. You know the deal with the Seven Sins?" Takuya nodded, not wanting to interupt him for any reason. Kouji was on a roll.  
"Kugyo was the poster-boy for every single Sin, and according to legend, that's what makes you a Shinso- a pure vampire. He was so evil that Hell itself spit him right back out, except, it cursed him. For Kugyo, the curse was a reward, not a punishment. He was thrilled when he was given that power and he killed mercilessly with it. He was going to kill me, his own half-brother, in case some cruel, twist of fate were to ever lead me to become a shogun, but I begged and begged for him to keep me alive. For hours, he played with me and tormented me and squashed my dignity to absolutely nothing, and finally just before it was too late, he gave me the curse. The virus. And I was alive, but I was an undead demon.  
"They say the disease is worse the closer you get to the source, so while you were a third line vampire and your transformation is muted, I was a second. It was horrible. Excruciating. I was half-insane by the time the transformation was complete, and I was craving blood. All of that old, useless human blood was just BURNING inside me, setting fire to my veins, and I thought I'd never have a mind again; I was sure I'd forever be this terrible monster. I practically tore myself apart because I had nothing else to bite...I still have scars where..." Kouji clenched his teeth. He took a deep breath.  
"Kugyo was no where to be found, but I was mad, crazy, and unpredictable. I hid out in the countryside for days until I cleared my mind, and I thought I'd be able to control myself when I got back to my home." Kouji paused, and his bottom lip trembled.  
"The first person I met snapped me on the spot. It was a little boy. I attacked him. There was blood everywhere. And...I carried his body away like a scavenger to feast on him in solitude. I didn't regain control over my body until hours later. Consciousness flickered back into my mind, and the first thing I saw was that little boy's body sprawled on the ground, lying in blood. And...the second I saw him, I attacked him again, licking up all the blood I possibly could."

Takuya was in shock. A few times he tried to reassure Kouji that it was alright, that it hadn't been his fault. But these scars were long since dug, and they would not be healed by such simple words. Kouji was still staring at him, but his eyes were blank.  
"I don't drink from children. I can't even stand the thought of it; it makes me absolutely sick. If you're sixteen or under, I won't touch you."  
Takuya's memory flickered; Kouji asking him how old he was if he still lived with his mother, and Kouji visibly calming once he learned he was seventeen.  
"There was no one to help me, no one to aid me, no one to comfort me. The day after Kugyo transformed me, he was so high up on his fucking horse and so confident that he assassinated my uncle, assuming that he would not be killed because he was immortal. However, dozens of guards were commanded to assassinate him on the spot, and one of them, thankfully, cut off his head. Of course, no one could ever know what happened to me. No one. I simply disappeared from the world, and for hundreds of years, have been living a pitiful, vain existence. You better be damn grateful that I didn't just leave you to flounder after I changed you, even if you aren't grateful to me for leaving you alive."  
They were silent after Kouji finished his story. The train made another stop, and suddenly, it was half empty. Takuya didn't feel comfortable talking anymore, but Kouji was confident enough to add one last thing, just to rub it in his face.  
"And vampires may travel in pairs if they are mates."

Their train arrived at Shizuoka, placing them right smack in the middle of the largest crowd in the prefecture. Takuya's question about being in constant contact with other humans was solved; even navigating through massive crowds of a hundred or more people was not an issue, and no one looked twice at him.  
"So, you needed a cloak, right?" Kouji seemed to be scanning the station, though his eyes were out of sight. Apparently, the issue of the past was being forgotten in favour of the reality of the present. None the less, Takuya chose his words carefully, trying not to anger or offend the only friend he had now.  
"Yeah. Preferably one like yours if we're going out in the daytime a lot."  
"We won't be. I don't make that mistake very often."

Shizuoka had the convenience of many department stores scattered about, and near to the station, too. However, most of them were going out of business, so it was a chore to find somewhere that sold what they needed. The sun was high and bright, and extraordinarily painful. Takuya was almost knocked out the moment he stepped into the sunlight, and he was so dizzy he could barely stand. Kouji supported him, looking hard at the crowd.  
"I would just pick you up and carry you, but that would seem very strange. I want to draw the least amount of attention to us as possible." He considered for a moment. "The Shizuoka mall isn't far from here. We can make it in no time."  
"Kouji..."  
He looked down at him. His skin was getting very red, very quickly. It looked painful.  
"Just let me wear your cloak. Please, please just let me wear it. You're resistant to sunlight, right? Well, I'm not. I need that cloak, now."  
Pretending he'd said nothing at all, he said, "Come on. We won't need that long." And Kouji led him along like a guide dog, mostly carrying all of his weight as they shuffled slowly on the sidewalk.

Every so often, Takuya would manage to squint his eyes and look around, observing where they were before he put his head down again.  
"I've been here before," he eventually mumbled, and Kouji looked up at him. Even with Takuya hunching over so dramatically, he was still a good bit shorter.  
"Oh? What for?"  
"When I was a kid, I played soccer for a team and we came here. I remember this place in particular because there used to be a district called 'Kanbara' around here, so that kind of meant something to me. I heard it got combined with another one or something."  
"Yes, it did," Kouji confirmed. "Kanbara sounds familiar. That's your surname, right?"  
"Yeah. How'd you know?"  
"I saw it on your nameplate." Takuya suddenly cried out loudly, shaking his head violently and clutching Kouji's arm. "The sun is so _bright._ It hurts. It hurts!" Even with the sunglasses protecting him, tears were streaming down his face and his skin was beginning to blister. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this much pain, and with so little of his skin revealed, too! He hated to even contemplate what it would feel like to be out in the sun any less clothed than this.  
Ignoring Takuya's pain, Kouji said calmly, "I strongly recommend that you never tell anyone your true name. Especially other vampires. Kanbara Takuya no longer exists. I'll just call you Takuya, for my own sake, since I'm used to it; if you want to make up a last name, feel free to."

Takuya was about to ask why, but he stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. He felt strong arms pull him up, and in a split second, he was being carried in those arms.  
"No one should care if it's just for a few seconds," Kouji reasoned, but Takuya just dug his face into his cloak, fighting to hide it from the hated sun. Kouji held him close to his chest, somehow skillfully squeezing in between all the right gaps through the crowds and making record time. It was quite a large and busy city, and thus housed a large and bustling crowd. Yet Takuya didn't feel the impact of bumping into someone even once, and while he was still swearing at Kouji for refusing to hand over his cloak, he praised him for having the ability to make such haste to a sanctuary.  
"Here we are." He fought to open his eyes, but he couldn't see a thing. He felt Kouji push open something, and realized it was something glass. It was a door. "You should be able to walk on your own in here. It's mostly man-made light, but there is a little sunlight from the sunroof, so be careful. Lean on me if you don't trust yourself."  
Already, Takuya felt better. Not fantastic, but better. Kouji was right; artificial light was more of an annoyance than something painful. But to be out of that bright, blazing sun, oh, it was such a relief! He immediately tried to stand and walk on his own, but he was so weakened by the ordeal that he quickly fell back into Kouji.  
"It's okay," he assured him. Takuya felt himself being led again.

Takuya had been in such pain from the sunlight that he hadn't been noticing the subtle changes, and he'd been so occupied with protecting himself that it had never occurred to him the reason for all of his discomfort. He was becoming a vampire, yet he still felt the same, except for feeling lighter on his feet and an odd spring to each step he took. While he'd been abnormally aware of feeling before, he was now extremely sensitive to it, and at each person he looked at, he could tell exactly what they were feeling and what kind of mood they were in.  
And emotions; he was drowning in a sea of random emotions from hundreds of people all around him, and he was nearly overwhelmed. Most of the people around him were stressed, and steadily, he became more stressed as well.  
Abruptly a young boy ran by him, shouting and waving around an object in his hands with glee; it was some kind of video game console. Being near him, Takuya was suddenly filled with joy.

"There are two unique abilities to vampires," Kouji suddenly said, breaking his focus on the people around him. He blinked dumbly, and realized he was grinning.  
"Huh?"  
"I think every vampire develops one of two abilities depending on their personality. Vampires like you absorb emotion. You sense and read raw, unfiltered feeling. Vampires like me absorb the mind, and all the logical thought that comes with it. Both have their ups and downs. While I can tell almost precisely what a person is thinking, you're stuck trying to decipher their confusing and muddled emotions. You can never tell how a person high on emotion will react while I always can judge what they will do by their thought process. However, a person can trick their mind to believe and think something else, which is difficult for me to overcome. People will actually brainwash themselves to believe anything but the truth. On the other hand, you always know what emotion you're dealing with, even if they're jumbled together, and so you cannot be tricked by it."  
"Oh." Well, that explained how Kouji could read his mind. Takuya swallowed hard; his mouth was getting very dry. He would have given anything for a cool glass of water when it occurred to him that his teeth might have gone through a growth spurt too.  
Curiously he stuck a finger in his mouth and rubbed at his canines; he didn't feel a little shiver of arousal, as he had in his room, but a soothing, mental pleasure. He enjoyed rubbing his teeth; it felt really good. He forgot he was walking and stopped completely, standing there and leaning on Kouji as he gently rubbed his canines.

"You know, what you're doing right now is the equivalent of masturbating in public for a vampire," Kouji pointed out, and Takuya stopped, embarrassed.  
"I was just seeing what they felt like." He ran his tongue over them, and then frowned. "Hey; they're getting longer."  
"No shit; I already explained this to you." Takuya was stung a little by the fact that Kouji swore. He was probably really annoyed that Takuya had rubbed his teeth to satisfy his curiousity. "Your teeth are sensitive and you feel pleasure from touching them because you want to bite. You get pleasure out of biting, so they're interconnected. When you initiate the pleasure of touching your teeth, they respond by growing long to allow you to penetrate flesh, because your teeth know that will also be pleasurable. Sound familiar?"  
"I get it, I get it." He licked his growing fangs again; they were gaining thickness very slowly, but he could already feel them growing longer. "What do I do?"  
"Keep your mouth closed. They'll fold back into your mouth as long as you need as long as you don't open your mouth wide or curl your lips back. You can call them...retractable. It's how snakes keep their fangs in their mouths. And don't touch them anymore! It's like purposely tempting yourself to want to bite someone. And when you're surrounded by hundreds of people, that is not good."  
Takuya nodded, committing to keeping his mouth closed.

"Ah, that should suffice." Kouji began dragging him again, and while he was no longer distracted by pain, he was incredibly distracted by the people around him. Touching a person was like going through a light-speed mood swing; he absorbed and mimicked almost exactly what they were feeling. Soon, he had no conscious thought of what he, Takuya, was feeling; everything he felt was the result of some chaotic cocktail of strangers. He was happy about a purchase he'd never made, impatient to meet friends he'd never had and hungry for food he didn't like. It was dizzying.  
"Close your mind."  
Takuya was currently near tears; he'd just bumped a woman who'd recently been in a fight with her boyfriend. He sniffed, then hummed questionably. He wanted to give himself no chance to bite someone.  
"Stop accepting all of their emotions. Just close yourself off from them and refuse what they're giving you." Takuya nodded. He forced himself to reject the onslaught of emotions, and he built a hard, firm wall between himself and the people around him. Surprisingly, the result was basically what had happened when Kouji had first met him. Sound was completely blocked out, like the crowd's volume had been turned way, way down. Only Kouji's voice was perfectly normal.  
"That's better, huh?"  
Since he wasn't rejecting Kouji's voice and feelings, he could clearly see his emotions as though they were on display, right in front of his face. Kouji was very amused, and for some reason, feeling very smug.  
"Thanks to the fact that you're such a good Samaritan, I had to go and steal from some other poor fellow." Kouji held up a black wallet. "Because you need money to buy things, in case you, in all of your seventeen years of wisdom, have not absorbed this."  
He was taunting him, knowing that Takuya would not respond. He still scowled, and Kouji clicked his teeth at him.

Takuya's blistered skin was soothed the second they entered the store. It was pitch black, save for a few odd neon lights and flashing black lights, and the darkness was better than any soothing salve he'd ever put on a sunburn in his life. His eyes were also fine-tuned to the dark now; almost everything was at least slightly visible, though his vision was still hindered.  
"Aah." He actually sighed in satisfaction as the darkness washed over him, and felt his strength returning. Too late, he felt his fangs slip out of his open mouth. They were nearly past his lips, but didn't seem to be gaining any more thickness. Takuya harmlessly touched them for a few seconds before he realized: his fangs! They were out of his mouth! Someone could see them! He was about to start panicking when Kouji hissed in his ear;  
"I told you. It's okay though, no one will see your teeth are a bit long in this crowd; they'd think your fangs were fake."  
Takuya was about to touch them again, but he put his hand back to his side. "Why are they so short compared to yours?"  
"They probably aren't grown out all the way. You did stop right in the middle of encouraging them. If that's not it, you're probably only seventy-five percent vampire, and that last bit of human in you may be keeping them from growing. And if that's not the reason, you're just a new vampire. Mine are so long and thick because, well, I'm nearly eight hundred years old. They've had a lot of time to grow." Takuya tuned him out and tried to look into the shoppers who were browsing in the darkness. It was a sort of "Gothic" style store, and everything, including its customers, had a dark theme. Through the sparse light he saw chalk white faces with ink black make-up and hair, and on the racks and walls he saw cult-specific merchandise and explicit art.  
"What is this place?"  
"I know it vaguely, but we're more than likely to find what you need here. Half the customers pretend they're vampires, anyway."

Indeed; it wasn't long before Takuya found a circular clothing rack with hooded cloaks. Some of them had jewelry, some of them were purposely tattered, and some of them came with peculiar markings. Kouji was the one who found a plain, ordinary black one, and as soon as Takuya slipped into it, he was even more soothed. His entire body was enveloped in darkness, and while they hadn't quite been an annoyance, even the neon lights were blocked out. Takuya was in bliss in the dark.  
"Nice fangs." He snapped out of his reverie to see a boy walk past him. He had fangs in his mouth, but even Takuya could see that they were cheap, plastic imitations. He waved back, too late, before realizing Kouji had been right. He was hidden in plain sight. He heard Kouji click his teeth.  
"Let's buy that now. Then, so you don't feel like we're thieves, we'll drop the wallet on the ground and let some other greedy idiot pick it up."  
Takuya just snuggled back into his cloak and let Kouji lead him; oh, what wonderful dark. It felt so good. But his sight was still cloudy and he could only see vague outlines; if he was destined to roam the darkness, why wasn't his vision better?  
Eventually, he realized it was because he was still wearing his sunglasses. He pocketed them, and immediately, the whole world magically appeared in front of him. It was incredible how good his dark vision was; he could see every little thing as though a light was shining on it. Though, for one odd reason or another, everything had a muted ruddy tone, as though the shining light itself was red.  
And then something happened.

Takuya suddenly realized that they were standing in front of a counter. A burly man with a thick neck was behind it; he was covered in piercings. Kouji was leafing through the money in the wallet and was avoiding eye contact with the man, and when he held out his hand for the money, Kouji purposely avoided touching his hand and set it on the countertop.  
And as Takuya looked at the man, his fangs shivered. His neck. He couldn't stop staring at his neck. He could practically see his jugular vein pumping inside it; he knew there was lots of blood to be had from that vein. Takuya could practically hear his heartbeat and he could nearly see his pulse beating right out of his throat. He couldn't help himself; he moaned quietly and put his hands on the countertop, staring at the man. He gave him the eye, and jerked a thumb at him.  
"What's wrong with that guy?"  
Takuya felt Kouji grip him by the neck like a tiny puppy, and he pulled him away from the counter. "Nothing. He's just excitable." Takuya was still staring at the man, panting eagerly.  
The man shrugged, and held out the receipt. "Those are killer fangs, by the way. It almost looks like they're getting longer. They must kill in your mouth though; they're so big it's no wonder your friend's drooling."  
Kouji reached out for the receipt, but Takuya whipped his hand out for it and had it in a split second; and then it happened. His hand touched the man's hand. Takuya felt a shockwave rush through him, and with a grunt, he lifted himself onto the counter. Kouji pulled him by the bottom of his cloak and hissed his name, but Takuya started kicking behind him, mule style, until his foot collided with Kouji's jaw. As soon as he fell back, Takuya descended on the man, who was strangely just standing there, watching him come. Takuya pushed him to the ground and drooled on his neck, scratching at the skin with his fangs and moaning in anticipation. It felt so good. He couldn't wait to-

To what? To suck his blood? Takuya paused for a split second and stared wide-eyed at the man; what had he been about to do? The human in him gagged with revulsion, but the vampire in him, what was the majority of him, began pushing a fang into his neck. He felt something huge club the side of his head, and he went rolling away on the floor as screams started blasting in his sensitive ears:  
"Security! Security! This guy assaulted me! He thinks he's a vampire!"  
Takuya was picked up by the back of his neck again, this time by the thick fingers of the anger cashier. He was about to resume his battle cry when Kouji leaped over the counter and kicked him directly in the back of his neck; he fell right to the ground. He didn't get up.  
Takuya was still dazed, but he realized that people were beginning to crowd around them. Too many people. Kouji aided him to his feet, and as he steadied himself on Kouji's arm, he heard him say,  
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" And Kouji was off, dragging Takuya along behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The author takes no stake or claim on any characters mentioned.

A/N: This story seems to be growing longer and longer as I go. It was supposed to be like five chapters; at this rate, we're talking ten.  
Oh well. At least I'm dedicated to it and won't let it sit for two years.

Red Tone

The till was all the way at the back of the store, and the two had to maneuver between the customers crowding in to see the commotion. It took forever to get outside, and by then, the cashier had come to. He was bellowing for them to come back there right now and face him like men; his voice was so loud they could hear him all the way from the back of the store to the front. Takuya winced as they emerged into the light again, but now that he was covered with a lovely black cloak, it was bearable. None the less, he replaced his sunglasses over his eyes and pulled his hood lower over his face to block as much light as he could. He must be a full vampire by now; he hadn't gotten his cloak a moment too soon.  
"Now," said Kouji as he pulled Takuya briskly away, "how to get away from here without getting arrested?"  
"But no one's chasing us." No sooner had the words exited his mouth:  
"Hey, kid!" Takuya looked over his shoulder. Two security guards, - real cops, not phony fake-uniform mall cops- were fighting through the crowd. A third was standing by and struggling to hold back the heavy cashier, who was shouting, "That kid! The tall one! He pulled a knife on me and started stabbing me in the neck, and the other one practically kicked my spine in! They're probably going to attack someone else!"  
"Any more rebuttals?" Kouji pulled him sharply to the right and sped off, fighting to get around the thick crowd while dragging someone behind him.

"I didn't think there were actually any REAL cops that worked in malls," Takuya panted. "I thought all of them were fakes."  
"There's been a lot of attacks in this area lately; three of them have ended up with someone dead. I suppose they figured they needed some real firepower. You picked the perfect place to lose your mind; they're so paranoid that everyone looks like a murderer, even two people who HAVEN'T just senselessly attacked someone."  
Kouji started picking up speed, and though he was usually more a sprinter than a runner, Takuya found it easy to keep pace with him. The problem was avoiding the other shoppers who vaguely wondered what they were running from, and only occasionally got out of their way. More than once they became entangled in a shopper and their purchases, and even then, Kouji would rather double back on himself rather than let go of Takuya's hand. He held it hard, tight; he was squeezing it with all his might.  
"Maybe they aren't chasing us anymore," Takuya tried, being optimistic.  
"It doesn't matter: keep running. We're conspicuous enough as it is and easy enough to be found by anyone else. Two teenagers running around way too early in the morning and wearing black cloaks on a summer day. This couldn't be any worse." For someone panicking and as concerned about escape as Kouji was, his voice was extremely calm. There was no anger in his words at all.  
"I'm sorry," Takuya started, and he yelped as Kouji pulled him sharply to the left. "But I can run on my own!"  
"Apology accepted. And you just tried to bite someone. How could you possibly think that I would actually let you go when we're surrounded by hundreds of people? Besides, just touching someone skin-to-skin could be enough to set you off."

Kouji stopped abruptly in front of him, and Takuya rammed into his back, nearly falling to the ground. He was panting and trying to catch his breath, but Kouji seemed perfectly fine, as though he'd never broken out of a walk. He looked over his shoulder and scowled, and Takuya followed his eyes until he saw one of the cops talking into a cell phone. The other one was stopping people and asking questions; they'd apparently lost them in the crowd. Takuya was just praising their fortune when moments later, there was an announcement through unseen speakers that seemed to echo throughout the entire mall:  
"Attention, attention. Security is looking for two young men suspected of assaulting a cashier. They are in their late teens, one is wearing a fake set of fangs, and one is very tall while the other is very short. They are wearing black cloaks and it is suspected that they are carrying knives. Please do not attempt to capture these boys; avoid these individuals and get out of their way. They are thought to be dangerous."  
"Well, that's that," said Kouji, and he panted his strange laugh again.

A woman shrieked and pointed at Takuya. Before Kouji could threaten her to keep quiet, the cops were alerted by the scream and came barreling towards them. Kouji began pulling him again, saying, "'One of them is very short.' Hmph. I'd have been considered tall six hundred years ago." He pulled Takuya harder. "Five foot four isn't bad at all." Kouji stopped, and pulled Takuya again. He wasn't moving. "Takuya. MOVE." All at once, he lost his cool; he was panicking. "Takuya?"  
Takuya was staring at the guards rushing towards him. His hood had fallen back during the run, but the light didn't seem to be bothering him at all. His eyes were fixated on the guard in the lead. On his neck.  
"Not now Takuya; NOT NOW." Kouji gave a mighty tug on his arm, but Takuya was now as strong, if not stronger than Kouji, and he easily pulled out of his grasp and pushed him away. He stood waiting for the guards to reach him, and whether they seemed to pick up on a bad vibe or were disturbed that their quarry had suddenly given up the chase, they slowed down. They were approaching him very slowly, and Takuya tensed.  
"Takuya." Kouji put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's. Go. Now."  
"If you have any weapons on you, drop them!" Takuya reached up to his sunglasses and plucked them off of his face, and he slipped them into his pocket again. His eyes were blazing with madness, and the once dark brown pupils took on a reddish hue.  
"Takuya..." Kouji was begging him now, yanking him as hard as he could and managing to pull him a few inches. "Come on. I'll get you blood later; I swear. Don't do something you're going to regret."  
As if obediently submitting, Takuya held his arms out, smiling innocently at the cops with his fangs.  
"Takuya, if you don't move right now,_ I'm leaving you behind."_  
"Go, then," he finally hissed back, gleefully. "Leave."  
And he did. Kouji was gone in a flash.

Takuya opened his arms wider, inviting them to come to him as Kouji had invited him.  
"On the ground!" his marked prey shouted. He had a very prominent Adam's apple; it was going crazy with his breathing. Takuya was fascinated with it.  
"Ground!" he shouted again, and Takuya obediently got to his knees. He was extremely aware of his surroundings now; he could feel a hundred people looking in on him and the cops in a tight circle, and all of them were radiating with fear and fascination. Some ounce of their fear should have affected Takuya, as keen as he was to emotions, but they didn't. He firmly put up his little wall, and they didn't bother him at all.  
One of the guards wanted him lying on the ground with his hands behind his head. The other, Takuya's marked prey, wanted to take him now. How gutsy. Would someone with brave blood taste better?

His cop stepped towards him; the other waited behind as back-up. Both had guns in their hands. His prey was telling him that he wasn't going to shoot; the guns were just a precaution, and he shouldn't be afraid. If he didn't make any sudden movements, he had no reason to hurt him. He almost felt like laughing; the cop needed a reason to use blunt force, but he, Takuya, needed no reason in the world. He wanted his prey: that was good enough for him.  
Muscles Takuya didn't even know he had were tightly tensed; he felt like a lion prepared to spring on a gazelle. Brave Cop was five feet away. His partner shouted a warning; the kid looked insane, he might be on drugs. Four. Brave Cop was trying to talk calmly to him; if he didn't attack anyone else, this would all be over and he would get the help he needed. Three. If he did something stupid, he might have no choice but to use brute force. He had to worry about the public's safety, and if that safety was jeopardized, he had no choice; did he understand? Two. Takuya curled his lips back and let his fangs begin dripping their numbing fluid. In a split second he was on his feet, and he sprung. Another second and he was clutching Brave Cop's shoulders. Another split second and his fangs were at his neck, and his cop was just standing there, stiff as a statue.  
Takuya was about to imbed his fangs into the pulsing vein when he heard the crowd gasp, and as he readjusted his vision, he caught a glimpse of a pair of deep, blue eyes just behind his cop.

"You idiot." Kouji had doubled back around the crowd and had come up behind the guards. He dug his long, thick nails into Takuya's hands and he pulled them away with a hiss; they would be bleeding if he'd been human. But he was too caught up in the moment to care about pain. He leapt back at his cop and nearly got a fang in his neck, but only managed to dig a long, bleeding gash from his cheek to his shoulder as Kouji yanked him out of reach; his fangs really were as sharp as scalpels. A little blood splattered onto his cheek.  
But there was no blood in his mouth. He'd torn the skin as fast as lightning and was out of there too soon; he had no blood in his mouth. This made him ANGRY. He could _smell_ that hot blood tempting him, and he wanted it in his mouth. He prepared to leap at his cop again, and Kouji intercepted him, staring right into his eyes.  
When Takuya had been fighting off Kouji only just last night, just a few hours ago, when he'd been human, he had punched him directly in the face.  
Kouji returned the favour.

He fell to his knees, spitting in anger. He held his tender nose with his fingers and he looked through them to see Kouji violently throwing the first cop into the second. He was infuriated! Kouji was taking away his prey! Unacceptable! This was HIS prey!  
He ran at the cop, burning red with rage at him, so focused on that single body that he again lost track of Kouji, and failed to notice him suddenly shoot out of nowhere. In an instant he felt Kouji's fangs lodged in his throat again, and he was holding him down tightly. Takuya couldn't move at all; he was paralyzed by whatever Kouji was doing to him, and he simply glared up at the ceiling, mouth wide open and his fangs dripping onto the floor. For a long moment, that sound was all that was audible. Then the guard started screaming,  
"Get down! Everybody get down!" He'd pulled out his gun again. Smart shoppers were running away and the adventurous ones were falling to the floor, hiding their heads with their hands but still curiously watching; one strange, misguided soul even had his cell-phone out and was recording the whole thing. Brave Cop was edging towards the two again with a determined look on his face. Blood was dripping down his neck. Takuya panted in desire at the sight of it, but somehow, he was regaining control of his mind. He could think again; he could recognize his conscious again. His eyes were still tinged with red, but they didn't burn with demonic fury.  
"I shoot to kill. Do you hear me? If either of you make a move at me or any innocent bystander,_ I shoot to kill._ Do you understand me?"  
Kouji removed his fangs. He was glaring up at Takuya, who whad completely lost his blood high. He was really able to think again. He felt refreshed; regenerated. And he realized what deep shit they were in.  
"I...I'm sorry," he stuttered. And Kouji just nodded, satisfied. He squeezed him with one arm in a way that was vaguely reminiscent of a hug, and he let it go at that.

"ON THE GROUND."  
"You might want to put your sunglasses back on," Kouji whispered, and immediately, Takuya started fumbling for them. He was listening to Kouji now; no matter what. "We're going back outside, except this time, we'll be a bit closer to the sun."  
The second cop was trying to come behind them as Kouji had done, but he wasn't nearly as subtle about it, especially with everyone else in the vicinity either running AWAY from them, or on the ground.  
"Just follow my lead."  
"You got it."  
And Kouji began to high-tail it out of there, with Takuya right on his heels. They practically tip-toed through the shoppers to avoid stepping on them, and after that, they broke into a run. An innocent fellow struggling with three shopping bags happened to get in their way, and Kouji pushed him down, while Takuya just leaped over him, yelling, "Sorry!" Only then did Takuya think to replace his hood.

They were expecting to hear gunfire the second they started moving, but heard nothing until they had made it out of the crowd: a single bullet slammed into a garbage can just as Kouji pushed another man out of his way, his long nails accidentally scratching him in the process.  
"They can't shoot us when we're covered by people," Takuya realized.  
"Use them as shields. Run to where there are people."

There was no more gunfire. There were just too many people and not enough of them could get out of the way in time as Takuya and Kouji rushed at them, putting them in harm's way just by being near them. Brave Cop was still running hard behind them, but his former partner apparently didn't take too well to running. He'd been replaced with the third cop, who was even faster than Brave Cop. It was too late: Takuya could see the glass doors in front of them.  
"Want to go out with a dramatic exit?" Kouji asked with a toothy smirk. "We could run right through the glass. It wouldn't hurt us, and it would be kind of fun."  
"Let's just get out of here." Takuya had definitely had enough drama. Kouji just scoffed.  
"Suit yourself."

The exit was certainly dramatic enough: the second Kouji opened the door, a bullet hit the glass and it exploded. They dived through the shower of glass knives, and Takuya had the split second to stare in wonder at his skin as it was cut from every angle imaginable with glass, yet was completely unharmed. Kouji pulled Takuya's arm again, pulling him left as another bullet blasted through the door and glass erupted everywhere.  
Confused pedestrians were screaming and running away from the glass; a few more took out their cell-phones and took pictures. Almost no one paid attention to the two boys running down the street until they hit an alley way, and almost no one saw them disappear into it. The cops ran completely in the opposite direction, chasing two college students who'd taken the smart but at the time suspicious decision to run away from trouble.  
And they heard sirens. It wouldn't be long before someone found them. Their attire wasn't exactly invisible to the naked eye.

"Where are we going?" Takuya whispered to Kouji as they hit the end of the alley.  
"Mt. Fuji," Kouji panted, actually out of breath this time.  
"But where are we going _now?_ It's a dead-end!"  
"We're going up." He nodded his head up the walls, and Takuya looked up, and up, and up to see the top of one of the walls enclosing them it. It was a part of a very tall building. Kouji's eyes were aimed right at the roof.  
"You're kidding."  
"I'm not. Just grab the window sills and push yourself up."  
"Can vampires fly?"  
"Maybe."  
"Maybe?!"  
Kouji was already gone; he leapt four feet straight up into the air and landed at first on the lid of a dumpster. Bracing himself on the wall, he readied his legs as though they were springs, and up he went, this time a straight six feet into the air, catching himself on the first window sill. He pulled himself up with ease and settled his feet on the ledge, and then sprung again to the next one, leaving Takuya totally dumbfounded on the ground.  
"Come on!" he yelled down, already at the third window. "Would you rather get arrested or climb a building?"  
"You...you..."  
"It's a lousy six feet, Takuya. We could jump three times this height; just relax and let your mind do the leaping."  
"I'm not doing this. I'm not doing this," Takuya was saying to himself as he started doing it. He was too afraid to leap straight onto the dumpster; he just climbed onto that. He made a few weak jumps at the side of the wall, never getting more than a foot of clearance each time. He looked up to Kouji pathetically.  
"Come now Takuya; you know you can jump better than that. You just did it to that cop back there."  
Takuya gritted his teeth, tensed his legs, and pushed as hard as he could as he closed his eyes and held out his arms, as if hoping they would magically grab onto the sill by themselves. After all, Kouji had told him to let his mind do the leaping. This, apparently, did not include leaping without looking where you were going. His head slammed right into the window sill, and he went toppling back down with a yelp as Kouji hid his face in embarrassment.  
"I'm alright!" he yelled back up, and climbed onto the dumpster again. He made another determined leap and this time caught himself on the ledge; and from then on, he had no problems jumping.  
And so, they left the chaos behind.

The building they were climbing was some sort of office building, a few dozen years old and made of brick. The wall was full of nooks and crannies that the boys could aid in pulling themselves up on, and there were plenty of windows every six to ten feet. It took about eleven stories to reach the roof, and by the time they'd gotten there, flashing lights were clearly visible a few blocks away. There was an enormous crowd on the entire block; it was already starting to clog up traffic.  
"They're probably wondering if there's another dead body," Kouji snorted. "And that one guy will probably be playing it up as much as he can. At first you just assaulted him, then you stabbed him, and the next thing we know, you raped him, stole his wallet, poisoned his dog, slept with his wife, and are responsible for the obscene amount of metal rings hanging in his nose. And don't even get me started on the excessive police brutality! THREE bullets fired when we hadn't actually hurt anyone? A little scratch was NOT worth three bullets. Give me a break. 'They looked like they may possibly have been on drugs' is not enough reason to start shooting at two innocent kids. Spell 'lawsuit' for me."  
Takuya clicked his teeth. He did it subconsciously, and didn't even realize that he'd done it until he felt Kouji's eyes on him. As if to correct himself, he gave a hearty "Ha ha!" laugh, just to prove that he still laughed like a normal human being.  
Kouji just grinned, and said nothing.

The two hopped from building to building, and for some reason, no one noticed two boys in black cloaks leaping across impossible heights. Takuya had a strangely poetic thought;  
_'People are so serious and single-minded. They never take a moment to stop and just look up into the sky; they never take a moment to appreciate everything beautiful around and above them.'_  
"So, we can fly," Takuya said with an air of finality as they'd jumped their fourth building. Kouji shrugged in response.  
"Not really. We can fly at night, but not during the day. We're sort of 'gliding' right now. If you'll think about it, I'm only choosing buildings that are lower than us, and aren't too far away."  
"But we can really fly?!" he asked excitedly, and Kouji looked rather smug.  
"There are limitations as to how exactly we can 'fly,' but essentially, yeah. In the dead of night, by the light of the moon and when the night's children go forth to feast on life, we can fly."

Kouji jumped again. Takuya crouched and readied the muscle in his legs, and then burst off of the roof as though he'd been shot from a canon. Kouji's arms were angled at his sides as he glided, but Takuya kept his arms extended, as though he were a hawk soaring across the thermals in the sky. It was a wonderful feeling, even if he wasn't really flying. Takuya smiled widely as the wind rushed against his face and ruffled his cloak; his hood had fallen back again, and even as painful as the sun was, even that couldn't ruin this feeling. Kouji landed easily in front of him, and he tripped on his left foot, the momentum causing him to fall right over.  
"Well, at least that's only happened once," he said with a sheepish grin, and Kouji just shook his head.  
"I can't imagine how you're so clumsy. You should be perfectly light on your feet."  
"Well, this is only like, my fifth attempt at flying, you know."  
"Gliding. For the life of me I wouldn't let you try to fly on your own; you would somehow manage to kill yourself, even if it doesn't involve the three certain deaths to vampires."

Kouji offered a hand, and Takuya pulled himself up. He attempted to pull his hand away, but Kouji kept his hold on it. Only when Takuya had pulled away three times, hard, did he finally let go. Takuya was glaring at him, but Kouji didn't seem to take notice, nor did he act as though anything odd had happened. His eyes were misty and looking far off, and Takuya decided to let him be rather than harp on him about his hand. After all, he had just seriously saved his ass. He'd be sporting a pair of metal wristbands if not for him, or worse.  
Kouji sighed and sat down at the edge of their building, and Takuya sat next to him, holding his legs off the side. He felt strangely comfortable so high off the ground, and didn't feel dizzy at all for being up so high; maybe being a vampire numbed his ordinarily healthy fear of heights, or like a bird, there was some sort of instinctual feeling of safeness up high.  
There was silence. Takuya occasionally looked to Kouji, expecting him to say something at some point, but what about; he wasn't sure. Surely he wasn't angry at him for losing control back there? It had been a mistake; it wouldn't happen again. Right?  
He wasn't sure.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you," Kouji finally mused as he looked out into the crowd far below.  
"Do with me about what?" Takuya pulled his hood back over his head and readjusted his sunglasses. They were apparently going to be resting for quite a few minutes, and so far up to the sun, it was intolerable to let any bit of it in.  
"About YOU, Takuya. I wasn't expecting you to lose your cool like that. Especially when you ordinarily seem so...human. For a vampire," he corrected quickly afterwards.  
"Hey; when you got changed, you went insane for a while; you said it yourself," Takuya argued back in his defense, and at Kouji's evil eye, he dropped the topic immediately. "Besides; that was a fluke. That's not going to happen again."  
"How can we be sure of that? You weren't provoked at all. You just randomly attacked them. And don't forget; you lost control twice. Not once, twice. Both of those times were only about five minutes off each other."  
"What; like you've never done it?"  
Kouji paused. "I'm careful. I wear my cloak all the time. I know that touching someone can lead me to crave them."  
"THAT'S why you wouldn't let me wear your cloak? You completely gorged yourself on my blood like four or five hours ago, and you were afraid of attacking someone?"  
"That's not even the point," Kouji said seriously, and Takuya looked away from him. He felt like he was being schooled and scolded, like a child. "You snapped: just like that. You didn't even have to touch them. All it took was a look, and you lost control. That's just...that's just not acceptable. I can go out in public because I can control myself. But if you just attack any old person, unprovoked, what am I going to do? Keep you locked up day and night so that you can't go out attacking people? Because now that I'm responsible for you-" He added a sarcastic drawl to "responsible," mocking Takuya's earlier speech. "-anything you do, I take the blame for. And you know what? If you screw up like you did back there, I'm the one under heat and pressure. And is that all you're going to tell me every time? I'm sorry, it was a fluke; it'll probably never happen again?"

Takuya was glaring at the ant-like people bustling along in the streets, fighting not to lose his temper with Kouji. But, why bother? What was stopping him from just gliding off right here and now? He knew enough about being a vampire; he could probably survive just fine.  
"You would be caught." Takuya looked back at Kouji and practically snarled at him; him and his stupid mind reading ability. "If you left me right now, you would be caught; no questions asked. It would be a repeat of what happened with that security guard, except this time, nothing would be stopping you. You would reveal to hundreds or even thousands of people that vampires exist. You would be exterminated; that is, if you weren't put on an autopsy table and dissected. While still alive."  
"But it was an accident!" Takuya insisted. "And it won't happen anymore! I'm new at this! I just became a vampire, and I don't even really get it yet! I'm…I'm just hungry, Kouji! I'm hungry! I've never had to deal with this before, so I don't know how to control myself! You said it yourself: you drank most of my fluid, and I'd need to feed in a few hours. Well, it's been a few hours. I need to do something."  
"And that's what I did back there."  
"Huh?"  
"I released my fluid into your neck. It took the edge off of your hunger and cleared your mind. It wasn't blood, but it was enough. And because it went directly into your neck, it calmed you immediately instead of going into your mouth and tempting you more."

Takuya was awkwardly silent for a minute. "I had no idea."  
"You wouldn't have. Like I said, it went directly in your vein; you probably didn't recognize it as anything different from your own fluid. It's difficult to explain; there's this fluid in our bodies that the blood sort of turns into after a while, which is why we can re-drink it. I guess you can call it…plasma? Eventually it sort of disappears, and we need to drink more blood to replenish the fluid, or we sort of dry out. All that your body recognized was that there was more fluid in it than before, and it tricked you into thinking you didn't need blood anymore. You still do; but hopefully, you can keep yourself in check long enough for me to find prey for you. I don't want you hunting yet." He scowled. "Of course, this means I'll need to feed sooner than I would have had to after drinking your blood. I released a lot into you because it took so much to calm you."  
"But you said vampires didn't pass blood through their fangs..."  
"I just finished telling you that this fluid isn't blood. But as you already know, our fangs can pass fluid." Takuya was inwardly ashamed of himself, and after a moment, he finally swallowed his pride enough to say, "Thanks."  
"No problem." Kouji sighed shortly. "Please don't misunderstand my intentions: I just want you to be aware of how serious this was."  
"Trust me; I get it."  
"Good." Kouji stood again. "I'll keep up with the stories in the paper and make sure they have no leads on where we went; with a little luck, it'll just be considered another random act of violence. We were wearing our cloaks, so obviously, no one will be able to recognize us if we go out again without them, which we can at night. But you know, let's just avoid that area for a while. We don't even really have to leave the mountain to hunt; I've got a pretty good set-up going on down there."  
"…Are we really going to have to hunt innocent people?"  
"You seemed perfectly fine with that not twenty minutes ago." This time Takuya gave him an evil eye, and Kouji backed off the topic. It was settled.

"Come on. It's about time I got home." He offered his hand again, and weakly smiled. His face suddenly looked incredibly old and tired; those black bags had never been more prominent, and his skin was sickly yellow rather than chalky white or grey. Takuya wondered whether he would end up looking like that, and as he took his hand, Kouji said questionably: "Our home?"  
Takuya pulled himself up, and as soon as he got to his feet, Kouji easily let go of his hand. He nodded. "Yeah." Kouji looked rather happy until Takuya said sternly: "But not as 'mates,' whatever that means for vampires. As...friends?" He just turned his back on him, readying his muscles and jumping off to the next building.

Eventually, they ran out of buildings to glide on and let themselves fall to the ground in a fairly deserted street. If anyone noticed two boys in black cloaks randomly fly out of the air and continue walking along as though they were perfectly normal, no one said anything.  
"Hopefully we should reach it within the hour-" Kouji suddenly stopped, and made a deep, throaty noise. Takuya was surprised at it and had to take a moment to absorb the sound until he realized that he was yawning.  
"Tired?" Takuya asked sympathetically. He was tired too. Whether human or vampire; he'd been up all night. He was due for some rest.  
"Yeah. I haven't slept for four days." This, of course, blew all sympathy for himself right out the window. Twenty-four hours ago, (had it really only been twenty-four hours?) he'd been waking up in his grandparents' house after sleeping half the day away, only to just get up, eat, and go back to sleep.  
"...Any particular reason?" he tried.  
"No, not really. I just don't really sleep that well during the day, and I feel sort of calm walking around at night. Call me a bit of a depressed vampire; I sort of don't have the energy to sleep, if that makes any sense."  
"Not really. Then again, humans don't make much sense either. Is this insomnia thing just a personal deal with you, or will I have sleepless nights, too?"  
"Sleepless days," Kouji corrected. "We run around in the night causing mischief, remember? And no. I just...have issues about some stuff. It keeps me awake."  
Kouji suddenly stopped at the curb of a busy street where several people stood in wait. He held Takuya in place. "Let's catch a bus. One will swing by here in about ten minutes."  
Takuya looked irritated; he wanted to keep moving. He was anxious to get out of the crowd. "That's okay; I can walk for a while."  
"That's nice. I can't. I'm tired." And Kouji simply plopped down onto the ground, curled his legs in, hunched his back over, and was, apparently, asleep.  
Takuya caught the eyes of several people in the crowd, and he tried to grin dismissively and patted Kouji on the shoulder, as though suddenly sitting down in the middle of a very busy walkway was completely normal. He quietly whispered, "Mental issues," and twirled his finger in a circle next to his head. The people nodded and politely looked away, and while it was extremely faint, Takuya could just hear the sound of teeth clicking together.

Takuya was about to shake Kouji's shoulder as he saw the bus coming towards them, but as aware of his surroundings as ever, Kouji spontaneously stood, surprising not only Takuya but a good deal of the people around them. As the bus halted and opened its doors to release its old passengers and to welcome its new, the moment the last person got off the bus, the crowd stood out of Kouji's way to allow him to enter first. And he did. Takuya was not so lucky; they apparently didn't realize the two were together, and Takuya was, politely, shoved to the back of the line.

"You really are full of surprises, aren't you?" Kouji said in a hushed voice as Takuya finally got inside. He'd been standing in the walkway the entire time, refusing to sit down anywhere where they might be split up. He still had the black wallet he'd pick pocketed in the mall, and had already paid a second toll. Takuya was about to ask for clarification when a man who had seen Takuya's explanation of Kouji's actions offered his seat, and he accepted for them. Takuya thanked him and explained quietly that he didn't trust leaving Kouji alone, lest he have a temper tantrum. Kouji just stared at him, non-blinking, with a disturbingly full smile, and he was more than happy to leave them. Kouji panted his odd little laugh.  
"It's amusing what you can get away with while feigning mental illness, isn't it?"  
"Not really." Takuya looked over his shoulder. "Are you sure this is going to where we're going?"  
"Mt. Fuji is its only stop; it drags people from here to there. I use it when I get stuck in the daylight." Kouji settled into the edge of his seat, leaning his head against the window.

"What did you mean, I really am full of surprises?" whispered Takuya, and it took a moment for Kouji to remember what he was talking about.  
"Oh; you just got through a crowd of two dozen or so people and touching who knows how many of them, and didn't break a sweat. I don't know if it's because the fluid you got sated you for now, or if you're gaining control of yourself, or if you're just a really, really weird guy."  
"Yeah, right." Takuya wasn't sure whether to feel complimented or proud that he'd controlled himself, or to be irritated.  
"I think you're just weird," Kouji said indefinitely. "I knew the second I saw you that you were a little off. Nothing you do is ordinary; you kept breaking out of my spell as a human, you actually resisted me long enough to punch me in the_ face,_ and you recovered long enough before you died to actually give me some kind of deep, philosophical insight. Really, most people can't string two words together after all that has happened to them."  
Takuya started to open his mouth, but Kouji held up a hand. "And that's not all. You started off transforming slowly and then suddenly sped up at the end, you're really sensitive to light when you should be fairly tolerant of it, and you attack two people for absolutely no reason whatsoever when just now, you had multiple opportunities to attack someone without me being able to stop you. Yet, you didn't even think about it." Again, before Takuya could get a word in edgewise, Kouji added, "I know; I was absorbing your mind. All you were thinking about was how you couldn't believe you'd been at the front of the line, and suddenly, you'd been excuse me'd to the back." And he huffed his little laugh again. "It's called 'Nice guys finish last.' Be more aggressive."  
Even with all of this he could've responded to, Takuya only asked the one, single question, he'd been wanting to know for hours. "Is that why you chose me? I was strange?"

Kouji turned his head to look at him. He face was almost completely covered by his cloak and Takuya couldn't see those eyes, but he could sense them looking at him, and he could also sense discomfort.  
"There was no particular reason," he said stiffly. "I'd just been hunting for a few days. Vampires can live quite a while without blood, right? So my logic is, why settle for any old blood? Be picky. Or think of it this way: why would I have a common street whore when I could take a high-class call-girl? I hunt for a long time to find someone who looks like they'd have good blood and are good candidates. Typically late teens, people traveling alone, and people who don't necessarily look friendly but don't look downright rude are what I look for. That was you. I guessed you were about eighteen, I clearly saw that you were traveling alone, and I saw you were solitary, but polite; you moved your carry-on bag without being asked so that a woman could sit down, but you were relieved whenever people left a few feet of space between you and them. "Even when I came to you, you responded well; if you hadn't, I'd have left you alone. People who respond too readily to me I usually ignore afterwards because I suspect that they probably sleep with a lot of people, or are very stupid if they eagerly accept a random stranger trying to seduce them. I guess that people who are a little anxious or embarrassed at my advances have never had sex, therefore are virgins, and therefore will have incredibly sweet blood."  
"So I sealed my own fate by being defensive when you tried to talk to me?"  
"Pretty much. It kind of teaches you a lesson, doesn't it? If you had been nice and polite and open about talking to me, I'd have probably left you alone. Now," Kouji settled back into his seat. "You can feel free to leave_ me_ alone; I want to rest a little on the way."  
Takuya sighed, and then nodded. "Alright. But I just don't really feel tired." It was a lie, but Kouji was too out of it to catch it.  
"You're full of youth," he breathed quietly. "You're so young. You don't really get what it's like to be so tired."  
"You're eternally sixteen. How tired can you get?"  
"I'm nearly eight hundred years old. It doesn't matter that I still have the body and appearance of a sixteen year old boy; I'm nearly eight hundred years old. Sometimes I feel like I'm sixteen when I'm having a really good day, but you know what I usually feel like?"  
"What?"  
"Eight hundred years old."  
"Wow."  
"Yeah."  
"You know, that's really, really old, Kouji."  
"I know, Takuya. I know."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The author takes absolutely no stake or claim on any characters mentioned in this story.

A/N: I'm sorry that the story is progressing very slowly; that's why I got bored with writing it. However, finally, all the freakin' BRIDGING chapters are out of the way, (mostly) and I can just dive head first into the story. Action will occur. I just had to lay down the plot tracks before the train could come through, or else I'd forget about them, that's all.  
Stuff will actually happen.  
Gasp.

Red Tone

"Takuya." He opened his eyes and began blinking rapidly. What happened? Where was he? "Takuya?" Who was calling him? He sat up and waved his arms around, trying to feel something, someone; it was too bright! Why was his back hurting; and his legs? He was being crushed! He felt his sunglasses being slid over his face, and found himself looking straight up at Kouji. At first he was disappointed, and then he was just confused; what was Kouji doing up there?  
"Takuya?" Kouji said yet again, and he finally responded, none too happily.  
"Oh. It's you."  
"Fabulous response. Wake up already; the bus is nearly empty." Takuya snapped up. He'd been squeezing his body in an awkward ball in order to force it to allow his head to lay on Kouji's lap.  
"What? I didn't fall asleep, did I?"  
"It's daytime," he replied matter-of-factly. You're just as prone to suddenly falling asleep as any human would be in the middle of the night. You fell onto my lap, and I decided to keep you there." Takuya just hid himself in his hood, refusing to look at the bemused smile Kouji was giving him.  
"You were only out for twenty minutes; it was no big deal."  
"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go."  
"As you wish."

They stepped off together. Takuya was expecting much less of a crowd, but the bus had dropped them off in an extremely high-traffic tourist area; at least half the faces he was looking at were foreigners, and he heard at least two, maybe three foreign languages buzzing around the air. English was the predominant.  
"It'll get better the closer we get to the mountain," Kouji assured him. "Very few of these people are here to climb the thing; they just want to look at it and take pictures so they can say they've been to Fuji-san." Kouji started dragging him along another tourist path, and Takuya obediently followed.

"We aren't actually climbing the mountain...right?" Takuya eyed the majestic mountain from top to bottom; he appreciated its beauty and majesty. He'd only seen it in person once before, so a part of him was a little enthusiastic at the idea of living on that revered landmark. However, his exhaustion overruled that part of him, and all he noticed was that it was a very, very, very tall mountain. "Even with our little flying thing going on, it would take us forever."  
"Of course we're not climbing the mountain, dummy; how would that benefit us being at the very top? There's no prey there. Nope, we're going to Aokigahara."  
Takuya stopped flat in the middle of the pathway; foreigners butted into him and they apologized in German, then English, and then they finally managed to get out a rough, incorrectly pronounced _sumimasen_ upon realizing that Takuya was Japanese. Takuya didn't notice them at all; he was staring at the trees.  
"Takuya?" Kouji kept pulling him, trying to urge him to move on.  
"Ao...Aokigahara?" he said in a very high pitched voice. "The Suicide Forest?"  
"Takuya." Kouji glared around; half the tourists didn't speak fluent Japanese, but one or two looked up, giving them a sad look. "We're locals playing tourist to see the legends. We're not doing anything strange in the forest."  
"But it's haunted!" Kouji gave him an exasperated look.  
"Takuya, we're you-know-whats. And we're already blatantly obvious enough with our cloaks; do you really want to make everyone think we're out to kill ourselves in the forest because we're in a cult or something?" Takuya whined in protest, but eventually let himself be dragged, very reluctantly.  
"Alright. But if I see any ghosts or zombies running around, I am so OUT of there."  
"Takuya, WE'RE practically...oh, never mind."

Kouji appeared content to play clueless tourist, but Takuya felt strange being one of the few Japanese to be taking the tour; actually, there were so few that the tour-guide was actually explaining the forest in English, and he fought to listen to him properly. He'd never been a genius in his English class. Kouji obviously couldn't understand a word he said, but he figured that it didn't matter; he probably knew more about the forest than what any guidebook could tell them.  
"Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees, or_ Jukai,_ is a thick forest lying at the base of Fuji-san," the guide man explained. "The floors are composed of volcanic material that settled after Fuji-san's last eruption in 1707, and because of the richness of the soil afterwards, the forest flourished. The ground is now hard and rocky, though vegetation and especially trees are still plentiful, thus its name. Aokigahara is littered with small caverns all throughout the forest, and most of these are covered in ice, which lasts even through the summer." He lowered his voice, aiming for a dramatic tone. "Aokigahara is the location in the novel, _Kuroi Jukai,_ where the climax is dragged out, and two lovers commit suicide in this very forest. Since that time, though it had never had a bad reputation beforehand, it has now become almost worldwide renowned as 'The Suicide Forest'. It has been an extremely common spot for people of all ages to commit suicide, and as a result, it is now considered a haunted forest. There have been roughly five hundred suicides committed in _Jukai,_ which classifies it as the number one suicide area in Japan and second suicide area in the world, behind only the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It is possible that there are more bodies we have not yet found, and possibly never will find. Legend has it that the forest is filled with the uneasy spirits of the dead, as well as demons and other monsters that have arisen from their ill-intent at the moment of death."  
Kouji clicked his teeth, likely amused at the amount of frightened thoughts going through the minds of the tourists, and even Takuya was rightfully frightened. The fear of the Suicide Forest was one he'd taken on early on in life, and though he was too old to believe in ghosts and goblins now, the healthy fear of the unknown remained with him, and all he wanted to do was turn tail and run.  
Takuya caught himself; he realized he was absorbing some of the fear and unease of the people around him, and he blocked them off. The little of his own fear that was left was plenty enough.

"Come on, Takuya." Kouji held him back until they fell to the back of the group, steadily, slowly, as if not doing it deliberately. Once or twice the others in their group stopped and looked behind them, but they soon continued, becoming fascinated by the guide's description of the forest.  
"I can't believe you expect me to live here," Takuya said with a shudder. "I mean, if it's not enough to know that people come here to kill themselves and that the trees are filled with their spirits, I have to see things like THAT every few minutes." Takuya pointed a tree where a wooden sign was nailed to its middle. It read: "Please reconsider; your life matters! Return to the station for a free meal, lodging, and counseling."  
"Ridiculous, isn't it? But this only goes on for a mile or two; after that, this beautiful forest is untouched." Kouji began moving off of the indicated path. Takuya hesitated, but followed him along. They were heading right towards the mountain.  
"I don't understand why we can't just live in the city," Takuya complained. "A nice small apartment or something. Why do we have to live out in a forest like we're uncivilized cavemen?"  
Kouji didn't look very happy being asked this question. "It's...possible."  
"Do not tell me you're just living out here because you don't like humans. Do not. If you do, I'll simply punch you." Kouji shrugged. "Oh, Kouji!..."  
"It's not just that," he insisted in his defense. "Do you have any clever plans to pay for such living arrangements? What if friends or family saw you? What if you snapped again because you still can't control yourself so close to humans? How could you explain walking around in the daylight with your cloak on all the time, or how could you explain how we could only come out at night? How would you explain living in a little apartment for ten years and when you move out, you haven't aged a bit?"  
"It's possible," Takuya sourly repeated.  
"It's not easy," Kouji assured him. "Besides it's nice and peaceful here, and much easier to feed."  
"Fine," the brunet grumbled. He clearly wasn't happy knowing he'd spend the rest of his non-life living in a haunted forest. "But I swear, if I see a skull peeking up from the grass or a body suddenly lying right in front of us, I'm going to freak out. Look at all the people who've killed themselves here..." He eyed another sign: "Please let us help you! We don't want you to die!"

"I must admit," Kouji eventually said after they'd plodded through the forest for a few minutes, making a good deal more progress than Takuya thought possible. It felt like they were moving slowly, but in reality, the forest seemed to be whizzing by them. "The majority of those 'suicides' weren't actually suicides at all."  
"What do you..." Takuya started thinking. Realization dawned on him. "If you live in this forest..."  
"I have to get prey somehow." Kouji shrugged.  
"You killed those people!" Takuya accused, more in wonder than in anger. "You're the demon from the legends that supposedly keeps the forest haunted."  
"It works up a lot of visitors," Kouji agreed. "That book by Matsumoto really helped me out. Suddenly, everyone who's even thinking about committing suicide comes to visit this forest. Most of them don't, and they just walk away after getting a real good chill."  
"And those who don't..."  
"I hunt," he said simply. "The way I figure it: They're going to kill themselves anyway. They come here with guns and razors and rope or whatever, and I can clearly see that they're going to kill themselves. If they want to die anyway, I don't see any point in letting their blood go to waste. Do you?"  
"I'm going to be haunting Aokigahara. I'm going to be the new demon of Jukai." For the first time since entering the forest, Takuya grinned, and actually looked a little excited. "That's so cool!"  
"Way cool," Kouji agreed. "I suppose you find that much more interesting than the reason I chose this area in the first place. It was because my grandfather trained here. It was practically a tradition to train at the base of Fuji-san, and I felt close to my family and friends here, so I chose to continue living here when it became deserted by humans; this place has been my home for hundreds of years. I still remember the first time I rode a horse here, training for yabusame, like Grandfather before me. When I was alive, anyway."  
"Oh?" Was all Takuya said in response, and Kouji nodded distantly.  
"Yeah."

They saw one last sign stuck in the ground; "We beg of you: seek help! You don't have to die!" before they completely left the forest area that had been soiled by humans. The grounds were free of litter and the trees free of suicide-repelling signs while there was no longer any sign of a roped off path. Takuya still kept a wary eye to the ground, just in case he found a body hidden among the leaves, but Kouji chillingly assured him:  
"Don't worry. If there's any corpses around, you'll smell them long before you see them."  
"Great," he said dryly. "That makes me feel loads better. Couldn't you throw the bodies in one of the lakes or something?"  
"I sometimes do, but that seems disrespectful somehow. At least here, they have a chance of being found." He clicked his teeth. "Besides, I don't kill EVERY person who comes here to commit suicide; sometimes they sneak up on me and I get a nasty surprise the next time I'm walking around."  
Takuya made a little noise; a squeak of surprise and fear. He scoured the ground again, trying to assure himself that there was nothing dead within miles of him, and that angry spirits were not real. Then again, less than twenty-four hours ago, he'd have told you without a doubt and with a completely straight face that vampires were a figment of imagination.

"You really are a strange guy," Kouji mused. "One minute you're obsessed with getting blood, the next minute you're terrified of nothing more than a sea of trees, the next you're excited to kill people and the next you're disgusted at the thought of death. Are you bi-polar or something?"  
"How would an eight-hundred year old vampire even know what bi-polar meant?" he just muttered back, and Kouji shook his head, offended.  
"Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm stupid. I can verbally recite to you completely from memory every haiku ever written by Basho and can perform verbally and physically nine different kabuki plays. And not the abridged ones you have these days either; I mean the real stuff, the ones that take over twelve hours to finish. But surely I'm not educated enough to know a few simple psychiatric terms. After all, everyone was pretty stupid back in the fourteenth century."  
"You don't really have a life, do you?" Takuya felt Kouji wince, as though that had been a personal stab. He immediately apologized.  
"Then you aren't going to have much of a life, either," was all he said in response. Kouji suddenly stopped. "We're here."  
"...Woah..."  
"Woah?"  
"Woah."  
"Is 'woah' good?"  
"'Woah' is excellent."  
"Heh."

To the north of Mount Fuji are five large lakes, and Kouji was nestled right between the best of both sceneries; they were at the shore of a gorgeous, shining lake and so close to the mountain itself, Takuya couldn't even properly see the top anymore. If he kept going for a few minutes, he'd be right at its base, actually able to climb Mount Fuji.  
He decided he might try that one day.  
Kouji left him standing there and looking around in awe; the trees were enormous and the most perfect, natural shade of green he'd ever seen, nothing like the trees near the city. In this little area, the grass was untouched and the leaves unmolested, as though no living thing had disturbed this place for a long time. What was funny is that this was probably true. It was like a little private slice of paradise.  
"Which lake is that?"  
"Saiko."  
_"Saikou,_ alright!" Kouji gave him a questioning look, not recognizing the pun, and he sharply spoke up as Takuya started running towards the lake.  
"Do not get too close to it in the daytime. We have a neat little niche over here that's not populated, but on the other side are a ton of people visiting the lake." Takuya held out his arms and dramatically shrugged with them.  
"Whatever!" And he continued towards it anyway. Kouji called after him a second time, and a third time when Takuya finally reached the shore, but he finally just shrugged, and followed after him.

Takuya had completely forgotten Kouji's earlier warning about water possibly harming vampires, and after he yanked off his shoes and socks, he walked right into the water, up to his ankles. Even just with his feet, and even though he no longer had any body heat, he recognized that the lake was almost obscenely cold.  
This didn't deter him at all; he simply reached down and cooled his stinging hands down in the water, and then splashed it to his face. It felt heavenly; his sunburned skin was so relieved to have something cool and smooth all over it. He even tried to pull up a little mud from the bottom, but the shallow shore was mostly sand; the mud began a few feet out, where Saiko became notably deeper. He definitely didn't feel like getting his cloak wet, so he just dug his toes into the squishy sand, laughing almost inappropriately.  
Something so normal, so innocent made him feel great all of a sudden. He couldn't remember the last time he could just mess around like this, like a little kid, and he definitely couldn't remember the last time he went swimming in a lake.

"Again, you amuse me," Kouji said from behind him all of a sudden. Takuya had gotten used to him sneaking up on him, and he barely flinched. "You're so happy to just have some cold water that you completely ignore that the people on the opposite shore can probably see you, and you completely ignore my warning that water might be hazardous to you. All for water? You don't even need water; I haven't drunk water for...God, ever."  
Nonetheless, Takuya cupped his hands in the lake, and brought the water to his lips. Maybe it was a little dirty, but it looked so clean and so pure; and anyway, he was a vampire, so why worry about things like bacteria?  
Of course, the second the water hit his tongue, he spit it out. It didn't taste muddy or dirty, it just tasted unpleasant.  
"Thus why I don't drink water." Takuya stick out his tongue and tried to wipe the taste away. Well, that was a little disappointing, but still...this icy cool water was so refreshing.  
"Well, maybe I'm still trying to just be a little human still, that's all."  
"I'd come out now," Kouji said sharply. "Like right now. Look at your hands." He did; he'd barely had them in the water at all, but they were already wrinkled and pruned, as though he'd been holding them under the water for almost an hour. He leapt away from the water and nearly hopped back onto the shore; he could already see that his feet were covered with deep, dramatic wrinkles and dark bruises, and all the hair on his feet had fallen off, as had some of the skin. It didn't hurt, but it was pretty damn scary.  
"What the hell?!" he yelped. He started feeling his feet to make sure they weren't going to fall off of his legs or anything really scary like that, but they didn't feel any different; they just looked creepy as hell.  
"Well...our bodies ARE dead...I guess water just makes them decompose. You're lucky you're still such a new vampire...if I did that, my feet probably would've just floated away."  
"Jeeze! What the hell would happen if you got splashed with HOLY water then?!" Kouji just chuckled.  
"Will you actually start listening to me now? Maybe I'm not stupid and you should trust me a little."  
"Cripes..."

Kouji wanted to finally go get some rest, but Takuya insisted on standing at the shore for just a little while longer. Kouji was annoyed and didn't realize why it was at first, but it only took a few seconds for him to get it; Takuya was watching the people. All the way on the other side of the shore were people; swimmers and hobby boaters, even a few people playing a cheap imitation of water polo. It was kind of picturesque, and even a little peaceful.  
Takuya sat down at the shore to watch, and Kouji patiently did the same.  
"Do you ever just sit here and people watch?" Takuya asked.  
"Not really; humans don't usually appeal to me unless I need to eat them."  
"But...you know...it's strange for me to say, but people are pretty fascinating. And I can see them so clearly, and they act like we can't see them at all!"  
"Earlier you were thinking that vampires were kind of like birds, and you're sort of right in that as well. Like birds, we-"  
"Kouji?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Stop with the whole...reading-my-mind-at-will thing. It's disturbing. Ask permission or something, man. My mind is my mind."  
"...Right. Sorry. Birds of prey have amazing eyesight; just to give you an idea, some can see a dirty coin on a muddy ground in cloudy weather while a mile high in the sky. The people just look fairly close because your eyesight is probably improving, though not nearly to that extent."  
"Cool." He continued watching; Kouji impatiently yawned, hoping that Takuya would finally get bored of just sitting here. Instead, Takuya just laughed. "Look at that poor little girl trying to get in the water...she keeps putting a foot in, then yanking it out, then putting a toe or two in, then running away, then getting really brave and putting two feet in...then running like bloody hell out of the water. It's so cute."  
"And very human."

Kouji was closing his eyes and letting himself doze, and as a result, he didn't notice that Takuya was now staring at him.  
"Don't you remember being human?"  
"I try not to remember things anymore. I guess...in the past fifty years, I've just lost interest in everything."  
"Why so recently? You know, considering you're eight hundred years old."  
"Shit happened." Takuya was again a little stung. Kouji had a very modern way of speaking, but he was usually very polite, and not prone to openly cussing. It was like a little needle of anger being shot at him whenever a swear word was uttered by Kouji.  
"Like what?"  
"Like shit, that's what." Ow. This was serious.  
"You're keeping secrets again," Takuya warned. "And come on; you must associate with humans a little. You were human at one point, even if you claim you don't remember."  
"I don't WANT to. Most humans are disgusting, evil creatures. Vampires aren't the monsters; humans are. It's almost shameful to have been one. If you'd seen what I'd seen over the years, you would know."  
"Not all of us are horrible. Surely you can't have had bad experiences with every human every time. I mean, hell, you saved me." Takuya weakly laughed; Kouji just scowled.  
"I'm beginning to regret it."  
"Nah, you aren't. You were bored, and you like having someone to talk to, even someone annoying."  
"If I'm not allowed to read your mind, why are you allowed to read my emotions?" Takuya looked a little sheepish. He scoffed in return, and he avoided looking at him by examining his feet. They were staring to dry out and they looked a little calloused and even more bruised, (although the bruises were quickly turning yellow-purple rather than black) but that was alright; as long as his skin wasn't falling off or anything.

"Fine." Takuya acknowledged the boundaries, but he couldn't accept more secrets. "But tell me; what happened?"  
"Nothing of your concern."  
"Well, if I'm probably going to be sticking around you for the rest of eternity, I might as well know now rather than later."  
"Does it ever occur to you that people don't tell you things not because they want you to be left in the dark, but they don't want to relive the pain?"  
Again, Takuya felt a little stung, and also embarrassed. "Oh." He paused, trying to find the right words to say. "Yeah, I know how that is."  
Kouji looked up at him, surprise evident in his tired eyes. "How would you possibly know how that is?" Takuya dug his feet into the damp soil lining the shore of the lake; this was a much better solution to his problem. The soil was cool and refreshing, but it didn't cause him bodily harm. At least, his flesh wasn't disintegrating as a result.  
"Well, now look who's ignoring whom."  
"I'm not ignoring you, I was just thinking of how to explain it to you. You don't really get this kind of thing; it was never a problem in your world when you were human."  
"Give it a shot." Takuya sighed. He gazed at the humans beyond the lake, blissfully unaware of the pair of vampires watching their every move. After a few minutes, he finally started.

"Well...can I assume that since you've been reading my mind ever since you met me, you know all about my...parents and stuff?"  
Kouji shrugged, almost dismissively. "We can assume that." That hadn't helped Takuya as much as he'd hoped it would. He really didn't know where to start; how to explain how it all was.  
Well...they certainly had a lot of time to do the explaining.  
"I always thought I had great parents," Takuya began wistfully. "All through school it felt like I was one of the small percent of kids who had a regular family. I had my mother, my father, and my brother. It felt like no one else had what I had; they always seemed to have a stepfather or no father at all, or things like that. I was so grateful to have the perfect family, you know?"  
"I guess." Kouji obviously didn't know; Takuya could feel that. He was just patiently nudging him on.  
"And then last year, it's like...my parents just fell completely out of love. They just couldn't stand each other all of a sudden. I couldn't understand what was wrong. They never talked to us about the problem or anything; it was just like all of a sudden, they were separated. And then before I knew it, they were getting a divorce." Takuya shook his head. "For months I just tried to think to myself, you know...why did this happen? HOW did this happen? Were me and Shinya just not good kids? Why didn't they ever try to talk to us or tell us what was wrong? Why did they keep us in the dark until the last minute? And how did it all come out of no where?"  
Kouji smirked under his cloak. "I see."  
Takuya didn't need to say it, but he did anyway. Now that he would never get to say it to anyone that mattered, he needed to say it to the only person he had. "I realized it as I was trying to explain it to Shinya. It had been going on a long time without us knowing, and they'd been keeping it from us for as long as they could. A dirty little secret. But it wasn't because they wanted us to be clueless; they just didn't want to relive it all over again with us, or have to deal with our emotions. They didn't want to recant the fights and the arguments they'd had outside of our range. Maybe they were trying to protect us, somehow, but really they just wanted to stop hurting themselves with it. The fights that eventually lead up to the separation, and the divorce, were painful enough without having to go through them all over again."  
"I see," Kouji murmured again. Takuya was thinking hard, and Kouji was politely silent, waiting for him to pick up again when he was ready.

"I'm not mad at them I guess," Takuya eventually confessed. "I mean...I always thought I was. For the past year I've just been so angry at them for dropping this on me and Shinya, and I got in a lot of fights with my parents, both of them. I guess I sort of became an asshole because I was just so frustrated with them."  
"I can think of many adjectives to describe you," Kouji interrupted. "Asshole is pretty low on the list." "Thanks," Takuya muttered sourly. "But I was an asshole to them, to a lot of people really. I don't know how my personality got so twisted around. I mean, I'd always been a pretty decent guy before, at least I thought. But this just set me off. And now..."

Takuya paused, reached down to his feet again, and picked off a bit of skin that had been sticking up and bothering him. He figured it'd be a little half-an-inch piece; the entire top layer of the skin on his foot peeled away.  
"Wow," he said in awe.  
"Only you would think that is cool."  
"It just doesn't hurt at all; it's really weird."  
"And now...?" Kouji prodded.  
Takuya paused again, reluctant to continue going on. "And now, I really miss them both, and I really hate what I left. I hate that the last thing I did was spit in my father's face and that after I told my mother I was coming back home, she said she loved me, and I couldn't say it back to her. And now I feel so guilty because my parents are going to think I ran away or went off and killed myself or something, and Shinya is going to be even more upset..." Takuya choked back a little sob. He'd never realized how much of a weight this has really been on him, but now that he was so finely tuned to everyone else's emotions, he was especially keen to his own. He absolutely didn't want to cry.  
"And I can't do anything now. This is it for me. Just...living in a stupid forest with you and never telling them that I forgive them." Kouji was trying to radiate his calmness off onto Takuya, hoping he'd absorb it, but Takuya refused it. He wanted to hurt from this. "And you're right; this is never going to be a life. It's never going to amount to what I had and what I'd so stupidly given up. I wasted a year of my life moping and being angry at everyone, and I'll never have that freedom again." He sniffed loudly. He was waiting for tears to fall, and they didn't. He felt lousy enough without them, so he was grateful.  
Kouji sighed.  
"And what's done is done," he said firmly. "You asked me to do what I did and I did it. Just as there was no point in sulking that entire year, there's no point in sulking for the rest of eternity. What happened is in the past and you'll just have to go on and accept that. Living in the future is how you get by every day, every year, and every century in my case. It's...human," he finished awkwardly. "Humans live, forgive, and forget. It's the only human part we have left."

Takuya was dead silent. He swallowed a few more sobs, and then he started snickering.  
"What's so funny?" Kouji demanded. "I'm trying to make you feel better here!" Takuya looked him straight in the face, and he broke out into a huge, infectious grin. Kouji, in all his pessimism and skepticism, could not restrain smiling in return. "Really, what's so funny?"  
"You're a hypocrite. It's your turn to tell me what's wrong with you. Remember: there's no point in sulking for the rest of eternity, Kouji," he mocked. "We live, forgive, and forget." Kouji looked absolutely infuriated.  
"You did NOT just do that," he growled angrily. "Here I am, awkward as hell as you supposedly pour out the soul you NO LONGER HAVE to me, and then you just..."  
"Hey, I still have a soul!" Takuya interrupted. "And I was telling the truth! I really do feel all that way! But...really," he insisted. "You've got to tell me now...what happened to you?"  
Kouji was still steaming; he was absolutely not happy at being tricked. It served him right, Takuya thought. Playing down how serious his issues felt because Kouji seemed to think his problems were worse.  
"What HASN'T happened to me?" he retorted slyly. "Anything and everything you can think of that's horrible has happened to me. No fun here." Takuya rolled his eyes.  
"Don't be so melodramatic Kouji. Your life is not the epitome of misery."  
"You're right: because I have no life. Just a never-ending cycle of a mind trapped within an undead body frozen in time."  
"Oh, don't be sore about that 'no life' thing! Come on!" the brunet insisted. "It's your turn! What happened?"  
"You have to...promise not to laugh at me." Takuya was taken aback.  
"Laugh? What on earth could you tell me that could cause me to laugh?"  
"Apparently some helpful philosophical advice," Kouji muttered, and Takuya grinned apologetically.  
"Don't be sore about that either. You had it coming. If you're going to hang around me, you'll have to learn to stop holding grudges."  
"THAT'S hypocritical." The other boy tiredly rubbed his eyes again, and Takuya was reminded of how exhausted he looked. He cautiously absorbed his feelings; he just felt tired and perturbed, but not angry or vengeful. "It is silly," Kouji said under his breath. "You're right; I really should just stop pouting about it. Sixty-three years ago is so far in the past..."  
"Come on, Kouji," Takuya instigated gently. "Man, it can't be worse than that story you told me on the train." Other than a confirming nod, he was unresponsive. "I'll tell you all sorts of silly, stupid stuff I worry about if you tell me this," he bribed. "I had a hilarious life."  
"Alright." Kouji seemed to wither a little, and he closed his eyes. Abruptly, Takuya felt absolutely no feeling coming off of him at all. He was completely blocking him out, refusing to let him share the pain.

"It was...February. 1945." Takuya whistled. Already, he was interrupting, and it was for the silly reason that he still couldn't believe Kouji was so old, and yet so looked young.  
"Can I finish?" he growled.  
"Yeah, sorry. Go on."  
Kouji couldn't go on, but not because of pain. It was definitely from embarrassment. He was trying to put it into words. "There was..." He shrugged and tried to angle himself away from Takuya's gaze. "It's just...there's was this woman." Takuya whooped gently. Now he was happy. A dramatic love story! This he could tolerate; no more bloody carnage, like he was expecting.  
"Shut up," he hissed. "I don't appreciate you downplaying my life."  
"Sorry," Takuya whispered back, afraid that talking too loud would set him off again.  
"Her name was Hiroko." Kouji was really chopping apart his sentences. Given to how prone he was to monologue, it must have been really hard to talk about it. "She was..." He started groping for an adjective to describe this woman who was apparently causing him so much torment, and he finally just spat out: "Human," as this clearly was enough to describe the general concept of it all.  
"Um...I see."  
"Shut up," he hissed again, angrier this time. "I didn't interrupt you all the time."  
"My bad, keep going." Kouji steamed to himself for another minute, and then he continued again, a little easier.  
"She was 19. Really pretty, but not too pretty, you know?" Now Takuya refused to respond, forcing him to go on. "She...I uh, I hadn't eaten for a week, and I was really thirsty. And she seems really tempting, so I followed her home. I was just going to...you know, drink her blood, kill her, and be done with it." Now, he seemed disgusted he had ever planned this crude introduction into her life. "But she was different I guess. I mean, sometimes, every couple of decades; I come across someone I just don't really want to drink the blood of. Like killing them would be a waste. I almost had her, you know," he whispered, ashamed. "I had her all ready and I was about to get into her neck, and I knew it'd be so easy; as soon as she was bleeding, I knew I wouldn't stop. But she just...when I had her down, she didn't care. She didn't resist or fight or anything. I asked her if she was afraid, and she just...she said my name, and she said that no, she wasn't afraid. She understood and she was glad she could give me some small happiness. She said she wished I would one day find closure too. And...I couldn't kill her. I just left her alone. I don't know WHY. Biting her and sucking out the blood of this woman just seemed...intolerable. I thought I would hate myself for it afterwards.  
"This was impossible, of course. She knew about my existence! Maybe I'd saved her life, but she had to be taken care of anyway! It was all such a waste of time, because I knew that once I killed her, I'd drink her blood regardless! There was no solution. But while I was trapped by my own twisted paradox, she called me by name. I, uh, I went by Kiyoshi back then." The name sounded strained and awkward on his lips. "And when I told her I had to kill her anyway, she called me by name..."

"Hiroko was a strange woman. She wasn't really afraid of me. She said she was indebted to me for sparing her life, and she gave me a place to stay. She invited a vampire into her home!" Kouji shook his head in disgust. "The crazy woman...no matter how many times I said I had a home here, she'd just insist that it was cruel of her to 'force' me to live in a dank old forest. And even when I went out, and I...I killed someone, and I was almost lost in my blood high, she just let me back in her house, and welcomed me home. I almost killed her so many times, and I didn't! What's more, she didn't CARE. It's like she had a death wish." He said bitterly, "I slept in her closet. I felt like a pervert sleeping in clothes drenched in her scent, but I really liked it.  
"Hiroko had no family, so she had nothing to lose. No mother, no father, no siblings, no significant other...I wonder if she often wanted me to kill her. She was a very solitary human. She put herself in harm's way as often as she could with me, and when it became clear that I'd refuse her every time, I think she fell in love with me. It was a really twisted, obsessed, frightening love," he confessed, "but the woman seemed to really love me. And I guess I just told myself that was the answer. That's why I couldn't bring myself to drink her blood and why I couldn't stand to hurt her: I must love her too. It was really nice to suddenly realize that you loved someone, you actually LOVED someone. After centuries of having no one, no one at all, I suddenly loved someone. I wanted to be human so much it hurt. I wanted to be able to be with her and kiss her and have sex with her. She never did get why I couldn't. I would have, if I could have, but I'm dead; I can't even get an erection, let alone maintain it.  
"But even when I told her that and even when I accused her of being a necrophiliac or something, she'd just have me roll around in bed with her and manipulate her like I did you, like we were pretending to have sex. In return, she let me take just a little bitty nip out of her neck; just enough to lick up a few drops of blood. The effects of that were just totally devastating on me, especially when I hadn't sated my thirst for a long time." Kouji timidly allowed himself to return his gaze to Takuya. "Is this making you uncomfortable?"  
"Extremely. But go on. It's interesting."  
"Interesting to you," Kouji muttered darkly.

"Eventually, though I tried to ignore it, it became obvious to me that Hiroko had...erm, mental problems, which had gone out of check for a long time. It became obvious to me in the passing months why she had no job, no friends, and no close relatives. Why she was so willing to share her life with a vampire. She wasn't in love with me; she was psychotic. Well, that's what I called her at the time. I think now she was most likely schizophrenic, but you know, I can't really analyze her now." He barked a dry, rusty, underused laugh.  
"She began to beg me to make her a vampire too. She wanted to go out and kill all the people who were stalking her and making her suffer; even though there were few people who knew she existed, she was under the impression that there were people out there purposely trying to ruin her life. I refused over and over again, and she started cutting herself wide open, making big, gaping wounds and splattering her blood all around me whenever she could, trying to make me lose my mind. Then she started biting ME, the fool, because she figured that maybe her ingesting my 'blood' would be enough to transfer the curse onto her. I was the manifestation of her disease; a real life hallucination; encouraging her to pursue her illness as far as she saw herself going. After all, if vampires could be real, so could the shadows of men stalking her in every corner.  
"What stood in the way of her having a happy life was me, her disease, and if she could defeat me, she could go on. It pained me. I still was under the impression that I loved this woman, and I felt like I did, really, so much. I'd never had love before, so I was reluctant to let go of it, even after months of living with this insane woman who alternated between trying to rip my head off with her teeth and using me as her own personal sex slave. I was chained to her; I couldn't leave. I was considering that I should maybe just maybe make her a vampire, and just maybe it would be worth having a companion who knew how I felt. I was starting to yearn for a companion, anyone who could fill this empty niche in my heart. And I hoped that maybe changing this woman would make her disease go away. Maybe it just would magically heal her mind and we could go on for eternity as mates, and this stupid thing keeping us from doing that would go away. Obviously, the solution was only so simple.  
"She was so, so happy when I told her I was thinking this. I promised her I would do it for her on her birthday. She promised she'd keep herself in control and she wouldn't kill all that many people. She said she just wanted to be with me. And she said it so sweetly and with such genuine innocence that I just had to believe it. For better or worse, I didn't care; I had a companion I'd spend a very, very long time with, and that made me very, very happy."

Takuya was so enraptured in the story that Kouji was afraid he'd miss the most important part. He turned his body back around, and hesitantly caught his eye. "It was August 6th, 1945..."  
Kouji didn't continue for a long moment. Little gears in Takuya's mind were working, slowly, processing this little piece of information he'd been given after the flood he'd just received. Then he gasped.  
"No."  
"Yeah."  
"...August 6th? 1945?"  
"That's correct."  
"...Hiroshima."  
"Hiroshima."  
"Oh, shit." In those two little words, Takuya tried to convey as much sympathy as he could, packing even the profanity with as much pity and desperation he could manage. Aside from being turned into a vampire, he could think of no end more tragic.  
"I told you I've lived through some pretty horrible things." Kouji slowly clicked his teeth. "Humans really are horrible, despicable creatures. You have absolutely no idea what I saw during that time. You can't even comprehend it, even if you didn't have a psychotic woman clinging to your arm..."  
"Hiroko...?"  
"Died," he said brusquely. It seemed so final, so finite, that Takuya could barely believe the story was over: just like that.  
"You never got the chance to change her?"  
"It wouldn't have mattered. I think any vampire that existed in that area perished. We're immortal, but not THAT immortal."  
"You...?"  
"I was out hunting in the country side, a long way away. I'd realized that it was easier for me to avoid biting Hiroko when I had blood in me, even when I didn't want to bite other humans, so I hunted animals. Small things like badgers and wild dogs; I put off hunting humans as much as I could, else Hiroko would scold me for 'having all the fun without her.' "  
"And just like that..."  
"I was alone. I'd done something stupid: I'd been so desperate for friendship and understanding that I'd allowed myself to grow impossibly attached to someone who couldn't possibly return my feelings in any sentient manner, and then she just...disappeared. Right off the face of the earth. Not even a body, no one who knew she was missing; no tombstone for me to visit. That woman shouldn't have meant so much to me, or anyone else, but she's tortured me all these years. I still wonder why I didn't just change her SOONER..."  
"Why?" Takuya wanted to do something comforting, but he could think of nothing that wouldn't be awkward. "She was bonkers, like you said. She was probably disillusioned about her love for you, like you said. And then her death wasn't even your fault."  
"...Her birthday was August 5th. I missed the day I promised to change her because I was having a bad time hunting; any extra prey animals, any at all, even dogs, were becoming meat for soldiers, and in the end I settled for hunting a human anyway. I broke a promise, all because of what I am. I made a solid promise afterwards that I would spend the rest of eternity as lonely as she had been, and yet, last night, I broke my promise again."

It had grown very late. While it was not yet evening, the afternoon had grown heavy and deep golden as the sun prepared for its nightly descent. Crickets were chirping and the activity on the other side of the lake had waned. Only a few teenagers were having fun on the shores of Saiko now, and the rest of the oblivious humans had gone away to their comfy lives, never to understand the deepness of the sorrow on the other side of the shore. Kouji's emotions had been kept under lock and key for as long as the tale had been told, but now he allowed a mist of bitter sorrow seep from his heart. Takuya knew why. He wanted his new companion, the one taking the place of a woman he loved, to hurt, as though in guilt.  
"I guess I understand where you're coming from now."  
"You think?" Kouji retorted dryly. "You'd have to live a long time to really understand the magnitude of it all. You think the solution is just so simple, so obvious. She was 'bonkers' and you shouldn't have loved her anyway; get over her. Try living through seven hundred years of total, utter loneliness and inhumanity, and then give me the same answer. And I assure you, I've screwed myself over just as bad with you. If anything happened to you now, and you left me alone..."  
"And just the same, you're too old to understand my situation," Takuya interrupted quickly. "If we can't understand each other, we may as well let it go and take life as it comes from now on. No more grudges for either of us, okay?"  
"That's your new answer? 'Let it go?'"  
"Just stealing your words again, Kouji. Or, if you prefer Kiyoshi...?"  
"Don't call me that," he said sharply. "I never want to hear that name again. It was hard enough digging it up to tell you it!" He took a deep breath, sort of in surrender. "Anyway...I guess you're right. What's done is done. But it...it doesn't stop anyone from feeling pain because of it." He hung his head in a humble apology. "I'm sorry. I know this new life is hard for you, and upsetting. I won't make it seem insignificant anymore."  
"And I'll just learn when to shut the hell up and stop asking questions." Kouji chuckled, and he spontaneously stood.  
"NOW can we go to sleep? I feel like the walking dead."  
"Funny, Kouji. Hilarious. Hysterical. I could piss myself in laughter. Do I need to pee?" Takuya suddenly wondered, and Kouji panted his strange little laugh again.

Kouji slowly made his way towards the mountain again, allowing Takuya to stand, assure himself that his feet were in good condition, (startlingly good, all things considering) and catch up to him. Takuya hoped he was still honoring his deal not to look into his mind, because the thoughts he had as he followed his companion were a little distressing.  
First, he hoped Kouji would not try to convince him to be his "mate," whatever that meant for vampires. Not to stab at Kouji or anything, but that hadn't turned out so well for Hiroko.  
Second, he hoped his new companion was out of long-winded and insanely depressing bed time stories. He wasn't sure how many more he could take without considering the most effective way to commit suicide.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The author takes absolutely no stake or claim on any characters mentioned.

A/N: I am so freaking glad those horrible plot chapters are out of the way and I can finally be on my way with the story. This is getting way too long and tedious and over all, pretty boring, even for me. It's my only story that I have mapped out for each and every chapter, including the very last chapter and the ending, and it's taking so long to get there that it's become a bore. Sorry. Hope you can bear with me; there's an actual plot and a climax (gasp?!) if you can get through it all.

Red Tone

Takuya was in total awe. At first, when he'd realized he'd be living in a forest, he was under the vain impression that Kouji slept in a TENT. Perhaps he had a sleeping bag. You know; generic camping gear. Something that would provide comfort to someone sleeping dead in the middle of a forest, whether they were a vampire or not.  
Of course, Kouji did not lead him to a tent or a pair of sleeping bags or even so much as a freakin' blanket. Kouji lead him to a cave.  
Takuya rolled his eyes when he saw it. _'How cliché,' _he thought. They'd just live in a conveniently quaint little cave in the middle of a forest and they'd live happily ever after.

It wasn't until he actually saw the inside of the thing that he remembered what the guide had said during their hike out here: Aokigahara was littered with many small caverns, many of which were covered with ice, even in the summer. It seemed pretty unrealistic, especially with global warming raising the average temperatures.  
However, he was now seeing it for it his own, and it suddenly became very real.

The sun was setting at just the perfect angle; any other way and he might have missed it completely. But he could clearly see, plain as the nose on his face, that this wasn't just any old drippy cave. It was beautiful. Ice, frozen solid, covered practically every inch of the wall, and the floor, and some of the rocks, too, seemed to be 100% pure frozen water, though the brown rock beneath it could still be seen. And it _shined_. The light just reflected perfectly off of the walls of the cavern, and it gleamed with a fragile glow, a delicate sparkle. It was like he was walking into a cave with crystal veins.  
"Will this be satisfactory?" Kouji asked dryly. "I know that as a human, you're used to living in luxury." Takuya at first was going to say that this must be luxury to live surrounded by this beauty, but then he shook his head and quickly assessed the rest of the place, from a logical point of view. Aside from the gleaming ice, the cave was relatively plain and small; uninteresting. It didn't go very deep and there wasn't a great deal of room. There was nothing of comfort in the cave, and it seemed unfair for Kouji to expect him to tolerate this; there was a difference between extensive luxury and basic human comfort.  
"There's no…pillows? Or blankets? Sleeping bags? Anything?" he asked desperately.  
"Nah, you find you don't really need any of that."

Kouji didn't bother to take off his cloak, but Takuya removed his; he figured he wouldn't be cold, since he hadn't really felt temperatures for a long time. He figured he'd just hang it on one of the stalagmites-  
"Or was it stalactites?" he wondered aloud.  
"What?"  
"Which one was on the bottom again…? Stalagmites or stalactites?"  
"…I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Kouji did not sound amused.  
"The age old riddle: which one is…oh, never mind." He threw his cloak onto a stala-something, so frozen over with ice that the ice alone probably could be its own entity without a rock underneath it.  
"So, how do you sleep without sleeping gear?" Takuya asked, a little reluctant to hear the obvious answer.  
"Simple. For you, you can probably just sprawl out on the ground, and be out of it." Takuya groaned.  
"Without even a pillow or anything?"  
"Of all the things you should be worried about, you're upset about not having a PILLOW."  
Takuya felt something jolt inside him, a little burst of angry energy. Damnit, why couldn't Kouji be more sympathetic? He'd JUST finished saying he'd try to understand what he was going through more, and he was still being a jerk! For a split second, he almost wanted to attack Kouji.  
"Anyway, if you're really so against staying here, why don't you go pretend to be one of the suicidal people?" Kouji teased. "The tourist lodge will get you a place to stay, which includes a bed, and a nice _meal_ for you. They wouldn't want you to _kill_ yourself." He clicked his teeth.  
Takuya couldn't respond; he was too busy staring at Kouji, glaring at him more like. God, he was so freaking cocky…it'd be so nice to just put him in his place for once. He definitely deserved it. Being eight hundred years old didn't mean he had the right to boss anyone around like that.

Kouji sobered up in a split second and glared back at him just as seriously. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing. You're just really pissing me off for some reason."  
"You were thinking about _attacking_ me?"  
"No," Takuya said defensively. "I mean, the thought crossed my mind, but I wasn't seriously thinking about it."  
Kouji eyed him warily. "Don't get any ideas, Takuya. Remember, I'll know them as soon as you think of them."  
"I thought I told you to stop invading my privacy?"  
"I forgot about that when your eyes went red again."  
Takuya frowned harder and he closed his eyes, as though if he couldn't see Kouji, Kouji couldn't see him. "I don't care. I don't like it when you pry into my head."  
"Well, gee, when my safety is at stake you'd think there'd be an exception. Hey, do you want me to…?"  
Takuya plopped down to the ground and curled up against the cave wall; it didn't feel very solid. He figured he should be worried about a cave-in if the rock was so fragile, but what did he care?  
"Takuya? Do you want me to go hunt something for you? Is that it?"  
"Just shut up and let me go to sleep."  
"Listen, I understand. You haven't eaten yet. You'll feel a lot better when you get some blood-"  
"Just SHUT UP already. Jeeze. I'm just tired and annoyed that I don't have a freaking pillow; is that so strange to you? I've never slept without a pillow in my life. I just finished explaining to you that it's hard for people to adjust and you said you'd be more understanding."  
"If it makes you feel better, we can go looking for a pillow tomorrow." Kouji sounded he was trying to reason with an unreasonable child having a temper tantrum, and it made Takuya even more pissed off at him.  
"Fine then," he muttered in response.  
"Okay."  
"Fine."  
Takuya could keenly feel Kouji digging into his mind, turning page after page of thought. He knew that he was just concerned and a little anxious, but still, the intrusion pissed him off.  
"And get the hell out of my head, okay? I'm TIRED. Let me sleep."  
Kouji reluctantly pulled back. "I apologize. But if you feel weak or like you're going to lose it again-"  
Takuya struggled to make his voice sound civil. "Really man, it's fine. I'm sorry I snapped. I'm not going to freak out or anything."  
"I can only hope so."

Kouji backed up against the opposite side of the crystal wall and pulled his legs to his chest. He settled his head down on his knees and sighed gratefully, and then finally closed his eyes, perfectly content to sleep just like that. He was asleep in moments.  
Even asleep, Takuya could just feel how aware he was. He'd toyed with the thought of going for a walk while his friend was asleep, but he was sure he'd never get past him.  
Takuya was swallowing over and over again. His throat felt really raw and dry, and he really felt like he needed a drink of water, especially when he could see Saiko so clearly out there. He thought about just telling Kouji he was going to get some water, and that was the only reason he was going out.  
He knew it wasn't water he wanted, though. They both knew that. So instead, he just curled up on the dirty cave floor and sighed, closing his eyes.

_And he was so pissed off.  
_He had a fever or something. That was the problem. Fever. His face was burning.  
His whole body was burning. But he hadn't felt hot or cold for a long time, so he didn't know why he felt hot now.  
"Takuya-chan, are you feeling okay?" he opened his eyes and his mother was above him, holding a cool washcloth in her hands. She was smiling. "Do you want me to get some more aspirin?"  
Takuya wanted to say something to her, but he couldn't open his mouth, because he was too busy staring at her neck. He could practically see her jugular vein and he could practically hear the blood running through her body like a forceful rapid.  
"Hey, Takuya." He turned away and Kouji was there. They were in the cave still, and his mother had gone away to get aspirin or something, but Kouji was in the mouth of the cave. He was holding a young boy by the shoulders. "Here, eat this. It'll make you feel better."  
Are you crazy? Takuya wanted to ask. For one, Kouji didn't drink the blood of children, and this kid was like eight. For another he didn't drink blood at all; that was silly. He was human.  
_God, his body was burning.  
_Then he realized the kid was his brother, only way younger than he should've been. He wanted to yell to Kouji to get off of his brother, but he was afraid to open his mouth; if he did, he might attack Shinya on accident. But then Kouji kneeled down, and he put his mouth on his throat, and his brother was crying and sobbing and begging for his Nii-san to save him. Kouji bit into his neck and blood came rushing out.  
_He opened his mouth. His fangs could sense the blood. He moaned._

"Takuya, just calm down, okay? Just calm down."  
Takuya was thrashing wildly. This idiot was trying to hold him down and he wouldn't let him go, but nothing could keep him away from this! Kouji couldn't just keep it all for himself! He could just SMELL the blood…  
Except it was gone now, where did it go?  
"It's MINE!" he snarled. "It's MINE, okay? So just let me go!"  
"It's yours," the voice agreed. He was pretty sure it was Kouji. "It's all yours. But why don't I go get it for you instead?"  
"NO!" He tried to thrust himself forward and away from this fool's clutches. He managed to break out of his hold, but he couldn't move much farther. He was just so weak and so tired, and his fever just hurt so bad. He collapsed shortly before the threshold of the cave, hyperventilating. "I want it!" he sobbed. "Where is it?! I want it!"  
"Just lie still, okay? Lie there and I'll find you some blood, okay? Don't go anywhere, okay? Do you understand?"  
Takuya just curled into a ball and nodded weakly. He pulled at his hair and scratched at himself and nearly bit himself a few times in the process, nearly driven insane by this wicked urge.  
He wished his mother would hurry up and come back with the aspirin. Then he realized that aspirin probably wouldn't work on him because he was a vampire. Belatedly, he realized that his mother probably wasn't there to begin with.  
Then he cried. Or he tried to cry, but no tears came. It wasn't fair. He needed to cry, and he wouldn't. He pretended to though, and he felt a little better.

Takuya's whole body was quivering. He was hypersensitive and in such distress that he almost didn't even acknowledge Kouji when he suddenly appeared before the cave again, and he didn't know how long he'd been gone. Most of all, he didn't even notice the body in his arms.  
"She's just unconscious right now," Kouji assured him. He held a female in his arms, probably late teens or early twenties; tall, ambiguous, dark hair, thin face, beautiful, but with a forgettable face. "She didn't even know I was there. Go ahead Takuya; she'll never even wake up."  
Takuya managed to sit up and Kouji deposited the body in front of him. The brunet noticed for the first time that Kouji had cuts, scrapes, and teeth marks all over his body and that his cloak was practically torn to shreds, and since he was pretty sure that this poor woman hadn't given him much of a fight, it occurred to him that he'd given Kouji some hell while he was asleep.  
He felt pretty bad about it.  
"Just open your mouth and let your fangs do the rest," Kouji helpfully offered. "It's like second nature to you after a few seconds."  
Takuya stared at the body. It was just like in his dream; if he kept his mouth closed, he could still be a human, and he could still think like a rational human being and he could still be normal. If he opened his mouth, he'd turn into a monster.  
He wished that concept worked the same for his nose. The body just smelled so GOOD.  
Kouji was fidgeting. He was getting uneasy; Takuya was taking too much time to stare at the thing.  
"Go on Takuya; you need this. Who knows what you'll do if you don't get some blood in you soon?"  
"I…" He thought of Hiroko and how Kouji had been able to resist biting her. And then he thought of his mother and Shinya and how he'd been able to resist biting them, even if they weren't real. He was sure he could put it off; did he really have to kill this human? Was it necessary? And all of a sudden, he didn't care. His fever turned into a headache. His eyes hurt. Every inch of his body just ached. "I don't want her."  
"Excuse me?"  
"I can't do it, Kouji. I can't drink her blood. She's human, like me."  
"You're not human," he replied tersely. "Don't try being a saint about it; you're going to have to drink blood sometime, whether you like it or not."  
"But not her," he insisted, and he felt wobbly all of a sudden. He fell back on the ground, closing his eyes tight and trying not to smell the human only inches away from him. "Take her back, please?"  
"I'd rather just drink her blood myself and then give it to you."  
"Kouji, think about it; someone probably loves her…"  
"She was visiting Fuji-san alone. No one else was with her."  
"I don't care; someone out there will miss her. She wasn't just someone suicidal who wandered around wanting to die, right?" Kouji did not respond. "She was just some random girl you found walking around; she didn't even want to die. That's cheating…"  
"You know, I'm sure I can just bite her myself and release some blood; maybe enough to kill her. Then I'm sure you'll do it. You won't be able to resist the blood. Like I said; if you won't kill her, I will."  
"Please don't kill her," he insisted. "She's so young. It's not fair to kill her now."  
"There were some older men around the same area; do you want me to get one of them? They've lived a full life."  
"Just no humans tonight, okay?"  
"You'll have to eat one sooner or later, you know. It's inevitable. You just won't be able to control it. I don't even know how you're doing it now."  
"Just GET HER OUT OF HERE!" he screamed. The smell was becoming intolerable; it was so painful to hold back. He bashed his head on the icy ground again and again and again and he clawed at his arms, desperate to distract himself in any way he could. Was this Kouji's plan? Was he going to keep stalling until he just lost his mind? "I'll do it later okay?" he whispered pitifully. "But not her, not now. Just get her away from me. _Please_."  
Kouji sighed, clearly annoyed. "Boy, are you a strange one…"

Takuya heard him gather up the body, but he didn't hear him leave. He wondered if Kouji was flying. What's more, he wondered how he was doing it. He wanted to fly. That'd be cool.  
His fever was coming back again. He wanted to hunt down Kouji and find the scent he was taking away from him, but he stayed put and ground his forehead into the ice. "Kaa-san," he mumbled. "I just want some water; can you please just get me some water…?"  
"Here, Takuya." He opened his eyes and tried to sit up again; his body was just twisting in so much pain he felt like he would throw up.  
"It's already dead. It wouldn't stop squirming. Does that make you feel better?" Kouji was holding a fat raccoon dog, hanging quite limply from his hand.  
"Oh come on; did you have to kill a Tanuki? They're so cool."  
"Takuya, if you don't eat this, I'm going to start hitting you with it," Kouji growled in response.  
Takuya was going to mumble that he didn't feel like eating so he could go back to sleep, but then he caught sight of something dark and red and wet on the raccoon dog's neck. Its fur was drenched in blood. It was winding its way up his nose and into his brain. He gasped and inhaled another deep whiff of that luscious bloody scent, and then he snapped.  
He lunged at the raccoon dog, which Kouji wisely dropped as he dodged the attack, and he caught it in mid air, slamming it to the ground. All of a sudden his mouth was on its furry neck and his fangs were piercing through skin and then warm blood was coming up into his mouth, and it was the most fantastic thing he'd ever tasted. It just felt so good to have all that warm blood just gushing into his mouth, he actually moaned.  
"Thank you, God. I'm not dealing with a fussy vampire." Takuya was annoyed when the blood stopped coming into his mouth. He squeezed the animal and gnawed on his neck and tore at its fur, but nothing else was coming out. He released the tanuki with a gasp, and tried to catch his breath. His whole body shook with relief, but his mind was revolted. He'd just drunk blood. And it had been GOOD. Really good. He wanted more. He was licking his lips in anticipation of more.  
Was he already that far gone?  
"Don't feel guilty," Kouji offered. He was lying against the cave wall again, watching him carefully, ready to spring up in a split second if the brunet tried running off on his own. "Everyone needs to kill to eat. It's no different than you eating a steak."  
"Yeah, but I didn't kill the cow, I just ate it…"  
"Precisely. You didn't kill the tanuki, but you ate it. Feel better?"  
"No…" He really didn't now. It wasn't enough; he needed more. The raccoon dog was fat, but small; he needed more blood. But still, he felt so weak he could barely move, and so repulsed by his behavior that he doubted he could hunt anyway.

Kouji wordlessly disappeared, and Takuya sat at the edge of the cave, watching. He could just intimately FEEL blood pulsing all around him in every direction, only slightly muted by the protection of the cave's walls. It was everywhere. It was like being led into a candy store full of all sorts of sweets he loved and then being told to sit in a chair and not to eat any of it.  
Not fair. Not fair at all.  
A little brown mouse was very slowly, very delicately moving across the grass. It stopped to sniff, then sniff again, look up, look for predators, not find any, sniff, bite the grass, and then continue scurrying around, sniffing. It didn't even notice Takuya, and why would it? He was stone still, and it couldn't sense life sitting inches away from it because there was no life sitting there.  
Even Takuya didn't feel himself move, but in reality he shot forward, nabbing the mouse before it could even squeak. All of a sudden this warm, furry thing was in his hand, and he knew there was lots of blood in it. He bit down on the neck so hard that he broke it, and after a short squeal, the mouse lay dead. He bit off the head so it wouldn't get in the way, and then there was blood in his mouth again, and it was really good. He sucked it dry in moments, and still wanted more.  
But there was a dead, headless mouse in his hand. He felt disgusted again. How could he do this for the rest of eternity, killing everything in his path only to remain hungry anyway? What was the point if he was never satisfied?  
Unfortunately, the deed was already done. He buried the mouse (and its head) just outside the cave, hoping that it didn't have a litter or a mate or something waiting for it. How could Kouji stand all this killing with no guilt or remorse? What's more, how could he do it to humans? Did he really just not remember being one at all?  
He was sure he could put off eating a human. It would feel like cannibalism. He swore he never would, no matter what Kouji had to say about the matter.

Kouji returned shortly afterwards with two squirrels and a pudgy badger, all three of which were dead. He apologized that the prey was so small. He could still smell the freshly shed blood of the mouse, but he did not mention it.  
He politely looked away while Takuya ravaged the rodents and tossed their limp bodies aside. He managed to pause for a brief moment before devouring the badger to ask: "Kouji, aren't you hungry too? You said you gave up all the blood you'd gotten from me this afternoon."  
"Yeah, but I already fed while I was out getting these things."  
"What was it?"  
"Oh, just another badger, you know." Takuya could very clearly feel the deceit, but he did not call him on it. Just as Kouji smelled the mouse blood in the air, Takuya could smell human blood on him, and it smelled so good he was sick; he almost felt like attacking Kouji again, looking for a leftover stray drop of it. He did not want to know what he was already pretty sure he knew; the girl was lying dead somewhere, and Kouji had been her demise. His abstinence had not prevented her death at all. He hoped she'd still been unconscious. Then he just chomped down on the badger's neck and practically inhaled the blood; it was still so sweet.

---

Takuya was still hungry when he fell asleep again, and he was hungry when he woke up. His hunger was abated by the smell of rotting carcasses; the bodies of the animals that had not been disposed of, though other animals seemed to have picked at them at some point. Rotting meat smelled horrible under normal circumstances, but with his super sensitive nose, it was absolutely intolerable. He managed to pick up the bodies and fling them away, was still capable of being surprised at how far the bodies flew, and then he retreated back into the cave. He wished he'd been sentient enough last night to bury them like he had the mouse, but he was starting to realize that in the long run, it really didn't matter. Not a lot seemed to matter anymore.  
In addition to that, it finally occurred to him that Kouji was gone.

He perked up and realized it was still dark. It didn't really seem all that dark out to be honest, which explained why he hadn't noticed it at first; he could see everything just fine, although any color but gray and black was very saturated with dark red. But it was true; it was dark, and not just dark, but early evening. Takuya could smell it somehow; it didn't smell like it was late enough to have been dark long.  
But that didn't make any sense; they'd gone to sleep yesterday at late afternoon, and his blood lust had taken up half the night. There was no way he'd slept through the rest of the night and all of the next day, was there?  
Then again, he figured, maybe it was how it body got itself in time. Now he would awake at dusk and sleep at dawn. Besides, it didn't really matter that he'd missed an entire day; it's not like his days were numbered or anything.  
Kouji dropped to the threshold of the cave all of a sudden, completely out of no where, startling Takuya backwards.  
"What the hell?!" he yelped. "Where'd you come from?!"  
"Sky," his companion replied simply. "I told you that at night we can fly."  
"Jeeze, just coming out of no where like that…"

Kouji made his way inside, carefully avoiding Takuya. He did not come bearing more prey, and for this, Takuya was annoyed. "I'm hungry," he said crossly. "And I've been sleeping forever."  
"I'll say," Kouji interrupted as he rolled his eyes.  
"But then you'd think you'd be kind enough to bring me something."  
"I tried to a few hours ago, and you were still out of it. So I ate it instead."  
"It…wasn't another human, was it?"  
"Nah, another raccoon dog. And if you're so hungry, how about you go hunting for yourself? I'm not some mother bird and you're not some fluffy chick stuck in a nest; you can go find food for yourself."  
"Aren't you afraid of me going off and attacking people?"  
"After last night, no, I'm not. I'm more afraid that you're going to try starving yourself, which is never pretty for vampires."  
Takuya looked out into the forest beyond the cave, which he'd quickly come to associate as home base; a place he should pretty much never leave. Though he knew that he was a long way away from any real civilization, he was still afraid of what he'd do if he came in contact with a human, or if he so much as smelled them. It didn't seem like a terribly good idea to go out into the forest right now.  
He could feel Kouji carefully peeling away his thoughts, and he gladly let him in, feeling his intentions were good. It was one thing to be snooping around for no reason, another to try and understand what was going through someone's mind.  
"It would be lucky if you ran into a human in reality," Kouji said in response to his worry. "There aren't always a lot of them around, at least not alone."  
"That's a relief."  
"It's really not, at least not for me. You're going to continue to be a crazy little son of a bitch until you get real blood in you." Takuya gaped at him.  
"What's with the random cussing?"  
"I just came back from a movie theater," Kouji announced, like it was some sort of grand occasion. Takuya also suddenly noticed that he had exchanged his ruined cloak for a new one, also black. "I occasionally go watch a movie so that my method of speaking keeps up with the times. I swear; the language was so different a few hundred years ago. It's like you people are inventing words every two or three years."  
"I was wondering why you talked so…er, normal."  
"Also, I decided to pick up a Shibuya newspaper."  
Takuya jerked and immediately held out his arm, wordlessly demanding the item in question.  
"I don't have it now; I threw it away."  
"Why?" Takuya demanded. "You should know that I want to see what's going on. Have they written about me? What's my mother and father saying?"  
Kouji was hesitant to respond, and he said very slowly, "It's not really important to them, so it wasn't a big story. They figure you ran away." He chewed over his next choice of words very carefully. "You mother misses you, your father is sure you'll show up soon, and your brother doesn't blame you for leaving."  
Takuya could just detect a hint of deceit, but again, he didn't push it. "Anything else?"  
"No clue where you are."  
And that was all.

Kouji slowly removed his cloak, and Takuya could clearly see the remnants of his wounds on his snow white skin; a few scratches here and there that were healing up nicely, and deep grazes in the skin where he'd gotten him with his teeth, which didn't seem to be healing at all. Takuya didn't even remember inflicting the damage.  
"Are you okay?" he asked, a little sheepishly.  
"Yeah. I can't think of many things more dangerous than a young vampire that wants blood. I probably should've just let you go."  
"I'm glad you didn't," he muttered, and he glared hard at the ground. "I wouldn't have liked to go out and meet someone in that state."  
Kouji shrugged. He fingered two of the many teeth and hole marks on his arm, obviously not in pain. "These things don't really hurt; they just take a while to heal up. Fang damage is different than anything else. I'm sure there's still something on your neck from where I bit you the other day." Subconsciously Takuya reached up to his neck and felt it; there were two tiny holes still in his skin, which he hadn't even noticed or thought to check before just then.  
Again, Takuya asked, "Was there anything in the Shizuoka papers about us?"  
"Boring story. Couldn't figure out what happened. Every one shoves blame on everyone else. It's not my fault, it's your fault, etc."  
Takuya felt huge deceit here, but he was occupied with something else, and didn't get around to questioning.  
There was another mouse sniffing around a few feet outside the cave; Takuya caught it with his peripheral vision a few seconds after he smelled the warm scent of life and heard the pounding of a live heart. He didn't even think about his actions for a moment; like it was second nature he soundlessly erupted from the cave and grabbed the mouse, and before it could so much as twitch a whisker, he bit its neck, broke it, and then bit the head off again, sucking down every last droplet of blood he could from the carcass, which wasn't nearly enough.  
Kouji did not comment, and he did not ask why, exactly, Takuya took care to bury the mouse after he'd realized what he'd done.

It was even worse out here without the protection of the cave; he could hear every violent pounding of every vital heart flushing blood through every single body. He could just smell the tantalizing scent of life everywhere, everywhere but the stupid little cave, and there was no way he wanted to go back into it, not when everything in the world was suddenly open to him out here. He could kill dozens of animals and not make a dent in the force of life all around him.  
And he still wouldn't be satisfied.  
What was especially worse: he smelled something different, something infinitely sweeter than all the animals in the forest combined: the scent of a human. A live one. A few miles away, deep in the woods, cut off from everyone. No one would know…  
No one except him and Kouji. Who would Kouji tell, and what would Kouji care? He ate humans all the time; it was a way of life. That just meant living with himself.  
"It's up to you," Kouji called boredly. He'd obviously also caught the scent of a delicious, vulnerable human. "I'm not really hungry right now. It's all you."  
"I wasn't going after it," Takuya replied crossly. "I was just…acknowledging that it smelled good, and then firmly deciding I wasn't going to it."  
"You can't keep kidding yourself forever. Vampires drink the blood of humans; it's just a way of life. Or non-life for us, I guess. I'm not sure."  
"There's an exception to every rule," he just muttered back. He wasn't terribly happy about trying to be this infamous exception; not when the sickeningly sweet blood was calling out to him and practically begging to be harvested. It was making his fever rise again, or whatever it was.  
"Alright Takuya; here's my compromise." Takuya did not want to hear this compromise because he was sure it involved the killing of another human, which, no matter how you slice it, was murder. Such a compromise was not really a compromise at all. "I'll get the human for you and I'll drink its blood. Then I'll just give it to you like I did the other day, and there you go: you're temporarily satisfied, you don't kill the human, and your craving goes away, at least for a little while. Oh, and I think it's a male, by the way; I'm not sure if that affects your opinion or anything."  
"It doesn't, because we're not eating him."  
"You're just being naïve, Takuya."  
"No I'm not. I'm just trying to be human."  
"You can't be something you aren't. Just take it from someone who's been there, alright? I've tried this saintly method of yours several times in hundreds of years, and it never works out for the better. Been there, done that. Just trust me."  
"You sound like my father." Kouji chuckled.  
"I am old enough to be your great, great, great, great, some dozens more great grandfather. Who knows; I might actually know something."  
"You sound like my mother too, telling me I have to eat my vegetables. Come on Takuya, you're going to have to eat the broccoli sometime. No, I don't want it. I never did end up HAVING to eat it. It was always a choice."  
"The difference: you aren't craving broccoli so much it hurts."  
"That's not the point."

Takuya was torn. He'd just finished saying he would never consider drinking the blood of another human, but the truth was that it was just _a _human. It was the only one out here. He couldn't hear his own heartbeat amongst all the others, or Kouji's. Being surrounded by life was like getting punched in the face with the huge reminder that he was no longer among the living.  
But, God, could he ever forgive himself?  
A breeze carried more of the human's scent his way. It stunned him to smell how good it was.  
"You forget that I've been doing this for a very, very long time," Kouji offered, in both his and Takuya's defense, "and it's not like I'm some evil, unforgiving monster. You'll live and get through another day."  
The scent was just wafting through his nostrils and touching every pleasure sensor in his brain, kicking everything into overdrive. He had to fight to keep himself from running off into the woods in search of that luscious smell as every muscle he had tickled and tightened in anticipation of use. Subconsciously, he started drifting towards it; first one step, then the other.  
"I'll come help you if it makes you feel better. Or do you not want me to see you make a kill?"  
It was like it was already decided, but it wasn't decided. Takuya still had many more rebuttals up his sleeve as to why he shouldn't be going to the human. But still, he kept moving. He was licking his lips again, deeply inhaling the scent, trying to focus on it rather than all the other smells around him. If it was so potent at this distance, how intoxicating would it be close up?  
It would be absolutely maddening. Each step he took led to another, faster step. Soon he was walking, soon he was jogging, and he didn't know why his legs were moving like that, because he didn't mean to be going anywhere. He could practically taste the blood just from smelling the human, and his tongue met fang when he licked his lips again. They'd grown too big to fit in his mouth, like Kouji's had been, only markedly smaller. They were completely exposed to the air and that scent, even with his mouth closed, and they knew just where to take him. And they were taking him there.

Kouji dropped out of no where again, immediately catching up to him and then steadily keeping pace. He wordlessly kept a few steps behind Takuya, even as his pace sped up remarkably, not wanting to disturb his companion, but not wanting to leave him alone.  
Takuya did not feel disgust or pity or embarrassment or any other annoying feeling that Kouji could have experienced that would make him want to stop. He was picking up on feelings of contentment, possibly pride. Definitely acceptance. He was doing the right thing; that's what it felt like coming from Kouji. It certainly felt like the right thing to him too, so he went with that.  
What did it matter, he decided, if just to keep his own sanity in tact. A mouse, a raccoon dog, a human; they were really all just animals, flesh and blood; food.  
And their heartbeats sounded so heavenly.

Takuya didn't care if flying was possible, and he didn't seem to miss it; he bounded through the woods like the foliage was no obstacle at all, pushing down what he did not dodge in time. He fell at least three trees before Kouji spoke up on his own behalf:  
"Could you try not knocking down trees? You're hitting me with them."  
The smell was getting closer and closer, and though Takuya wanted to speed up even more to reach it as soon as possible, Kouji steadily slowed, and not wanting to be separated from him, Takuya dropped in speed as well.  
"Why are you slowing down?" he called over his shoulder.  
"So we don't run right into the thing and freak it out. Personally I prefer to stalk it and then strike it down so it doesn't panic."  
"That seems rather…personal."  
"It's all fun, really."  
Takuya stopped dead in his tracks; a gust of wind followed him from behind and blew hard into his back, nearly knocking him off his feet. Kouji gently eased to a stop beside him.  
"Yeah, you don't stop like that all of a sudden."  
"I smell him here…" He was on the ground, on his hands, deeply inhaling the scents masking the grass. "He must have sat or lied down here for a while; his smell is so strong here. It's so good." He found three holes in the dirt not far beyond the thick scent patch, and he investigated them too, wondering what had pierced the earth in such a strange fashion. All three holes formed a triangle; the soil was freshly bothered.  
"I wouldn't be as interested in the scent as I would the actual human." Kouji pointed; a long way away, hidden by the trees and brush, was a young man kneeling to the ground, certainly not much older than Takuya. The brunet didn't see him very well; he was wearing a red shirt, and pretty much everything looked a little red, which meant excellent camouflage for the boy.  
"I wonder what he's doing out here so late at night," Takuya muttered to Kouji, as if the human so far away would hear if they spoke louder.  
"I couldn't tell you. The point is that he's here, and you might not get this lucky for a while. You're still going to do it, right? You're not going to pass at the last moment like before?"  
"I don't have a choice, right? You're the one who said that."  
"I would say your choice is life or death, but that seems too much like cruel irony."

Takuya marveled at how quiet their foot steps were. They certainly weren't trying to be quiet, and in fact they should have been a little noisy. But he heard almost nothing at all, and considering how keen his hearing was supposed to be now, the human surely heard nothing.  
His heart was beating so strong and so vibrantly; he must have been excited about something. His heart was pumping and pumping gallon after gallon of blood throughout his body and it was so warm; Takuya could feel the warmth even far away from him. His body radiated warmth and life and that mouth-watering SMELL.  
Takuya forgot Kouji was there, right behind him, encouraging him. He was so close to the human now; he could see him so clearly. He was kneeling on the ground, intently watching a camera on a tripod from behind a tree. The camera in question was focused on an owl, a rare Blakiston's Fish Owl, farther off in a tree. It was preening. The human's mouth was open; he was fascinated by the sight of it. He looked so young and so full of life.  
The owl made a sudden swoop to the ground, perhaps to capture a rodent that had scurried into its line of sight, and the boy's heart jumped into his throat; the camera followed the movement with a few quick clicks and jerky motions. Its talons came up empty, and it resumed its place on another tree even farther away. The human groaned softly and pulled out a pair of binoculars so he could see it better; it was almost sad that his vision was so limited, especially in the dark.

Takuya was as fascinated with watching the human as the boy was fascinated with the owl. He was so drunk with the power of the human's delicious blood scent that logical thought was difficult.  
He was already so close to him. His fangs were just itching with the desire to imbed themselves in the fleshy neck in front of it. With every inhale he took another step forward, silent death incarnate creeping up on the boy, who wouldn't have even cared had he known that Takuya was there; he had the owl. That was where his life was right now.  
A split second of clarity made all of this seem utterly, completely wrong, but then it was gone, and it seemed that the perfect time had come; he had to have the blood NOW. He would die if he smelled it anymore and could not have it. He could not resist the allure of the blood the boy's rampant heart promised.  
The boy had one last happy moment in his life; the owl flew back towards them and the camera got a perfect, head-on shot of it with a squirming vole in its talons, and the human's face just lit up with joy. Seconds after the owl's wickedly sharp beak pierced the vermin, Takuya silently descended on the human, wrapping his arms around him and piercing his neck with his desperate fangs, and then blood was in his mouth, and nothing mattered anymore. The boy didn't make a sound; he simply fell to the ground and let Takuya roll him over, and he found the jugular and nothing mattered anymore. Takuya's eyes met the boy's and he could feel his sudden sadness, the hurt and lonely asking of "Why?" practically resounding in his own head from the human's, and the jugular spurt blood into his mouth, and nothing mattered anymore.

"These are nice pictures," Kouji commented all of a sudden. "Very professional. Some of these must have been taken manually; there's no way he got all of these from sticking it on this…stick thing."  
Takuya closed his eyes and pretended that Kouji wasn't witnessing this moment. He was sure the human was dead now, but there was still so much blood left; he felt like a glutton as he gulped and pulled on the wound for more and more of the precious, priceless red liquid that was flowing seamlessly into his mouth. He had never known pleasure like this; it was not even comparable to the plentiful orgasms Kouji had pulled out of him on the night that he died. There was just nothing in the entire world that could match this feeling; it was so good he wanted to cry. He would have been happy to lie there on the ground with the human's corpse for the rest of eternity if it kept giving him this phenomenal sensation of fulfillment.

The blood eventually ran dry. Takuya continued suckling the wound, hoping for one last drop or two, but there was none. He was making unintelligible little gasping sounds, weakly trying to sound off the pleasure he was experiencing, and all he could do with himself afterwards was roll away from the human, on the ground, continuing to gasp with his mouth wide open, feeling exhausted, full, and best of all, satisfied.

"Very nice pictures indeed," Kouji determined again. "The last one was especially nice. That's the kind of photo you expect to see in a magazine."  
Takuya remained sprawled out on the ground, in a daze, in his mind still gulping more and more blood, still tasting it on his tongue. He still wanted more; now that he'd gotten a taste of just how superior human blood was to animal blood, he'd always want more; but he no longer hungered and craved for it. For the first time in a long time, the world was suddenly normal colored, and not drenched in a bloody red hue. Takuya felt lighter and more at ease with the whole vampire thing now, and at ease with the whole world in general. He felt no guilt at all for what he'd just done; after all, it was just a game of predator and prey, killing to survive. He licked his lips and found remnants of the blood there, and he thoroughly cleaned his face, licking up every little smear of blood there was to be had.  
"So," Kouji cautiously instigated, "are you alright now?"  
"Uh," Takuya managed to grunt. With a great deal of effort he pushed himself to his feet. He nearly stumbled, caught his balance, and returned to earth again. He was suddenly painfully aware of the body lying between him and Kouji.  
"You're not going to freak out on me or anything? You're calm?"  
"Yeah, I'm good." He continued staring down at the face of the boy he'd killed. Guilt slapped him in the face.  
"Oh, don't torture yourself. You did what had to be done. The world continues to turn."  
"Yeah, you're right."  
"Oh? Then why are you so dismal?"  
"It's just…" Those blank, unfocused eyes still staring up at him, still wide in surprise, his mouth still begging to ask the question it had never gotten to mutter. "Can we bury him? Please?"  
"There's no use in doing that. Someone would find him easier if he remains above ground. Then his family can give him a proper funeral."  
"It just seems so wrong to just leave him here like this. I have to do-"  
The owl silently took wing. It probably flew as a result of being bored, not from being startled by the two vampires; after all, animals didn't really seem to acknowledge them. Takuya watched it soar for a split second before he was after it. For the first time in his life, his feet left the ground with nothing supporting his body, and remained, not in danger of falling as long as he willed it. For a few short seconds he flew through the air, promptly caught up with the owl, and delicately plucked a feather from its tail, startling it, but not disturbing it in any other way. It flew off otherwise unharmed.  
"Strange one," Kouji mumbled to himself after his protégé had hit the ground again. "Just ups and flies with no warning and no preparation what so ever, like he's done it all his life."

Takuya slowly returned to the body with feather in hand, and after he bowed his head, silently praying for the deceased, he let it fall onto the boy's chest. He liked to think he would have liked to pass on with a memento of his favorite bird close at hand.  
"Are you satisfied?" Kouji asked.  
Physically, yes. Takuya was satisfied. He'd finally gorged himself on tasty human blood and his body was no longer mutinying against him. Mentally, yes. He'd acknowledged that he was not a human, he was a vampire, and vampires had to kill humans to continue on.  
Spiritually, however, Takuya was not entirely satisfied. This he was sure he could not fix; no one had ever said vampires would move onto heaven when they eventually did die.  
"I'm gonna be alright," he assured his companion. "I feel like going to sleep again, so we might as well head back." Kouji sighed.  
"Great, more sleeping. You're proving to be an exceptionally boring vampire."  
And he hoped he'd remain that way. A notorious vampire never did anything good to be recognized.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The author takes no stake or claim on any characters mentioned.

A/N: Obviously I fail hardcore at writing. Hopefully this chapter clears a few things up and satisfies a few people.

Red Tone

"Exceptionally boring" was about the most accurate term imaginable for the vampire, Takuya. He slept, he awoke to eat something, and when he was done, he usually went back to sleep. That was pretty much it. Day or night, he could always find ways to drift off, and he'd decided this was ultimately the safest thing to do to avoid getting into mischief. So while before he had abhorred sleep in his old life, staving it off with sugar and energy drinks galore, he now sought it constantly, both as a coping mechanism and a way to pass time. It took a lot of effort to pass time these days, and he wondered how exactly he was supposed to do it forever.  
Since both of them could last a few days without blood, and then supplement animal blood here and there along the way, they did not eat many humans at all; maybe one each every two to three weeks, maybe once a month. It was certainly nothing noteworthy or horrifyingly nightmarish, even with two vampires staking out the same land. They could sometimes even share one human together. The media hadn't even reported a sudden unexplained spike of deaths, which, Kouji explained, was usually a pretty good indicator of when a new vampire was running amok. Takuya figured this was some sort of compliment.

Most of all, Takuya had ceased feeling grief and regret whenever they killed. It was a necessary evil, something that couldn't be avoided. They weren't even inhumane about it; all they had to do was look into his blood red eyes, and they would just drift away and not even know death. Their end was always soft and peaceful. At first he'd had nightmares about them staring up at him in desperation as he fed, and they were conscious and feeling everything, sometimes crying and asking him "why." But as Kouji had explained, his ability to retain consciousness during a vampire's seduction was rare. Kouji said the last human he'd ever known to resist lapsing into unconsciousness before Takuya had been Hiroko.  
So the killing was merciful.  
And they were _just_ humans. There were six billion of them left; one death wasn't making a difference. His certainly hadn't.

Takuya did try to eat normal human food for a while. He bought a box of candy and tried to eat that, but every piece tasted nasty on his tongue, like the whole box was sticky and spoiled. He met the same result with bread, which tasted slimy and moldy, and korokke, which tasted rotten. Even Pepsi tasted flat and sour. No normal food was enjoyable, so Takuya quickly decided it was useless to try to sustain himself on people food.  
"Just as well," Kouji told him. "The craving would've gotten to you eventually. Human food just isn't good for a vampire."  
"But how can perfectly good Pepsi taste like that?" he asked crossly as he flung the can into the forest, fizzing soda as it flew. "It's a BRAND new can. I JUST opened it."  
"Notice how everything always tastes kind of old? I think that the stuff rots when it hits our mouths."  
"Pfft, like I buy that."

Even if it was only now and then and when available that he would drink the blood of some unwitting human, he had made up his own rules. He preferred to kill men, since while one man was good for several kids and thus others would take his place, one woman was good for only one or two, sometimes three children, and then had to care for them for years afterwards; it would not be easy to replace her.  
"That logic is bull," Kouji informed him.  
"I don't care."  
He preferred middle-aged men or older men if possible. Kouji's reasoning was clear; they'd already lived a pretty full life and had probably already fathered some kids who were most likely already grown. He didn't actually prefer the taste of their blood; younger blood was obviously, clearly sweeter, especially if it was a woman, and especially if she was a virgin.  
"It's like candy though," Takuya told his companion. "I have to eat the candy every now and then eat the less tasty food the rest of the time."  
"You're living the dream that many others would die for; you're a vampire and you can eat 'candy' whenever you want. And you don't live either of those abilities to the fullest."

And most of all, Takuya pretty much refused to leave the cave, if nothing less, the mountain. He loved climbing the mountain; it was his only activity besides eating and sleeping. He hadn't hit the top yet, but he was far past the mid-point. He was only lucky he had no need to wear warmer clothing that would bog him down. He also didn't need to breathe, so oxygen was no problem. Nor was equipment. Nor was the issue of getting down, when he could just jump off the steep cliffs and fall, fall, fall until he hit the ground, feeling little to no pain, or cutting up at the last second from a nose dive.  
"Why don't you just fly up there?" Kouji asked crossly of his friend, who'd gotten very good at flying, good enough to practically avoid raindrops in the dead of night. Kouji was getting tired of being startled by the sight and sound of this stupid friend abruptly hitting the ground after falling several thousand feet.  
"That kills the sport of it. It's like how you'd rather take down your prey rather than hypnotize it."  
"Boy, are you a strange one."  
And that was one of Kouji's favorite maxims for Takuya, the notoriously not-notorious vampire.

Kouji, who had grown tired of eating and sleeping in solitude several hundred years ago, ran around and learned about the world that was always changing around him, always wanting to be MORE modern and MORE up to date, which Takuya thought was interesting considering his age. His grandparents weren't anywhere near as interested in keeping up with the times, (and they were certainly no where near as old as his morose little friend) but Kouji went out on his little expeditions frequently, always learning something. He read all the newest books, (stolen) listened to all the newest music on mp3 players, (also stolen) occasionally cruised the town for cars (and then stole them) to drive and crash for the hell of it, and freely stole money, which obviously was, well, stolen.  
Kouji did a lot of stealing.  
"You're a klepto," Takuya told him one night, after Kouji finally fulfilled his promise and brought Takuya a thick pillow, which had been, of course, stolen. "You have money to pay for these stupid things and you just CHOOSE not to."  
"Paying for things means interacting with humans," Kouji just replied matter-of-factly, and then threw the pillow in his face. "I try to avoid touching humans unless I'm going to eat them."  
"Right." Takuya had also noticed this frustrating fact; maybe he could avoid smelling humans, but touching them sent a jolt of electricity to his brain that suddenly, acutely made him crave them. Touching the body that contained the beating heart of prey was so perversely intimate now, and oh so tempting. It was the biggest reason he never left the mountain, and he couldn't imagine how Kouji had the self control to do it once or twice a week. "But hell, if you're never going to use your money, stick it in a bank somewhere. In a few hundred more years you'll be filthy rich."  
"Interest rates are too low to make a serious difference. It takes years to build up anything."  
"And this is a problem because…?" Kouji chuckled in response. He was learning to laugh again after being around someone who laughed so much.  
"Anyway, the inactivity would be suspicious. People put money in banks to DO things with it, like pay bills and such. Also, I don't live anywhere, I don't have ID, background or history of any type; nothing. I don't exist. Banks just don't open up accounts to people who don't exist.'  
"We _could_ rent some nice little place in the city," Takuya started hopefully, but Kouji shot him down immediately:  
"No. I am not living in the city again; that's the end of it."  
Ah well, Takuya figured. It was worth a shot every now and then.  
Kouji hurriedly launched into a new topic. "You know, I never understood the concept of money, anything but gold or silver coins."  
"How come?"  
"Because for an eternity, trade was the ultimate. If I need clothing and you need food, and I grow food and you make clothing, it makes sense for us to trade so that we each obtain what we want. This stupid paper stuff you call money has no REAL value, and yet you insist on doing all business with it because some obscure source claims it has value. It makes no sense to me. One day your people will all wake up at the same time and go, 'Hey, this stuff is just WORTHLESS PAPER.' And there will be an economic crisis of epic proportions."  
"I dare you to walk up to a noodle cart and say, 'I'll trade you this pair of pants for a bowl of ramen.'"  
"Why?"  
"Because I'd laugh my ass off at the look on the vendor's face."

Takuya soon lost all vice for his companion, especially after the presentation of the pillow. Kouji still had scars healing from the battle of the angry-Takuya-vampire, which had been healing for…  
"How long have I been here?" Takuya wondered, and Kouji replied,  
"Several months, I think. No, maybe not 'several…'" he corrected unsurely when his friend gasped audibly. "Well, at least three or four."  
"Three or four MONTHS?" Takuya demanded, shocked. There went his life, passing before his eyes! Everyone else probably in school now, his parents had probably completed the divorce; they were possibly dating other people! His brother would be starting a new grade soon, shit, he'd be starting high school and he wouldn't even be there for him! "How can four months have just gone by like nothing? That's not fair!"  
"Time flies when you're dead, right?" Eventually, Kouji sighed impatiently at the sour look his friend was giving him. "Oh, get a grip; what's a couple of months when you've got an eternity left? Wait until you reach the point where you realize everyone you knew and loved is probably dead. That's a shocker.  
Takuya groaned.

Kouji, who had been alone and dead for a few hundred years, was remarkably sociable to his new companion, and gave no hint that he wanted Takuya to leave anytime soon, except for-  
"Damnit, Takuya!" –when he was just sitting in the threshold of the cave, reading, and his friend would come falling from the sky and hit the ground, leaving a crater at least a foot deep and cackling like a madman. "Can't you try to kill yourself ELSEWHERE?"  
"I'm not trying to kill myself, jeeze. I'm mountain diving; it's fun."  
"At least fly UP before you hit the ground; my God!"  
"Why, thank you," Takuya teased back, and began to climb the mountain again.  
"Why don't you just keep at it until you reach the top and be done with it already?" Kouji growled, mostly to himself, and Takuya still heard him; the brunet's hearing was admittedly not as keen as Kouji's, but he still heard a great deal, including the private and irritable mumbles and grumbles of an exasperated vampire.  
"Kouji, I've got an eternity left," he yelled down, almost mockingly. If Kouji liked reminding him that he was going to live for an eternity, Takuya liked reminding him in turn that he would have to put up with him forever. "When I reach the top, what's after that? Nothing. If I never reach the top, I'll always have a goal."  
"Under-achieving so that you're always achieving," Kouji muttered contemptuously, and Takuya laughed back.  
"Yep! That's me; the under-achieving achiever."

And it was in this way that the two vampires co-existed, as though they always had. And what else would they have done? Takuya had given up the idea that a vampire could still try to be normal; Kouji had already tried, and well, Kouji WAS in his late seven-hundreds, so he figured he would do well to trust a guy who'd lived through everything from the shogun era to Westernization to WWII.  
"Smart man," Kouji had remarked after Takuya had not necessarily shared these thoughts, but left them open enough for Kouji to read. "Now if only you would stop jumping off of mountains, we could probably get along for the next couple hundred years."  
"Nah, when I'm done with this mountain I'll probably move onto another one. Maybe Everest."  
"Christ."  
"Thank you. Besides, when I move on, you'll probably follow me, right?"  
"Not on your life. I'm happy right where I am. You move onto other countries and see the world; float on gondolas in Venice and jump off of the freaking Eiffel Tower in Paris if you feel so inclined. I'll continue to wait for the apocalypse in my quiet little mountain cave."  
"The apocalypse?"  
"What other hope do I have for some eventual end?"  
"Just watch; you'll live through it through some cruel twist of fate. The three things that could survive a nuclear war: Twinkies, cockroaches, and vampires."  
"I wouldn't be surprised. God seems to hate me."

And it was somewhere around this period, three or four months after Takuya's transformation, that the story actually picks up again.

* * *

"Hey Kouji," Takuya began, and then said again, "Kouji?" only continuing when his companion looked up from the novel he was engrossed in to pay him some attention. "I want to go back to the city."  
"Really?" Kouji didn't sound surprised, really just mildly amused. He kept his book open, prepared to dive back into it at the first possible moment.  
"Yeah. I was just thinking, you know…maybe we could go back and just see what's changed, and just people watch for a while."  
"It's only been a few months. Not a lot has changed. And people are boring; why would you want to watch them?"  
"Okay, well…you go into the city every now and then. I just stay here all the time. I want a change of scenery. I miss walking down the street with a hundred other people while lights flash in my face from every angle."  
"You don't even want to just go back to Shizuoka. You want to go off to freaking Tokyo or something."  
"Yeah. So?"  
"So? We still don't know how much self control you have over yourself when it comes to humans. I know my limitations and I know what I can do. You've been in isolation for so long; who's to say you won't snap at the first group of humans you see? And you want to go frolicking along with THOUSANDS of them?"  
"It was just a suggestion," he mumbled.

Kouji finally closed his book with a sigh and set it aside. They were both hunched up inside the little cave, which admittedly got a little crowded when they were both in it at the same time. But it was middle of the afternoon, and it was burning with brightness out there; even Kouji was seriously handicapped in the intense sunlight. Even the ice was dripping a little, which made "home" a pretty unpleasant place at the moment. But still they remained inside, pretty much trapped inside the cave. Being a vampire stuck in a cave during intense sunlight was the equivalent of a child being stuck in the house during a rainstorm.

It was at these moments that Takuya wished like nothing else they had a home to go to; some quaint little apartment or something with a solid roof and a comfy bed. Maybe a few video game consoles to pass the time with. A dirty, crowded, gloomy cave was not the most ideal place to call home.

"Listen. You're your own man, Takuya; I'm not here to baby-sit you. You can do whatever you want." He said this with the air of someone trying to come off like they didn't really care, and for the most part, it sounded like Kouji didn't really care. But Takuya had that damned ability to feel, and when he felt, he found nothing but care.  
"Well, I WANT to go back to the city, maybe read up on current events, even see how my family's doing…"  
"And in the process somehow get yourself found out or killed?"  
"I don't need to talk to anybody, I just want to see my parents. Especially my mom. I said goodbye to my dad before I got on the train, but I…I never really said goodbye to my mom."  
Kouji looked very uncomfortable at this point and he noticeably squirmed. There was this dark shadow crossing over his face, and Takuya was acutely aware that he was hiding something again. "Sounds like you got a full agenda ahead of you," was all Kouji said in response. He was still trying to come off like he didn't give a shit.  
"So I can go?" he pressed, still looking eagerly for permission, even if he did not necessarily need it.  
"Like I said, I'm not going to order you to stay or go. It's your choice. I can only try to persuade you one way or the other, and I personally say stay here. Don't go running around where it's not safe. The world isn't ready for vampires."  
"You can run off and pull cute little stunts whenever you want," Takuya muttered under his breath. A flicker of anger shone in his eyes and he prepared to spit out a retort. Takuya quickly moved on to saying, "But I know you have a lot of experience and I get that you know how to handle yourself in crowds. But how can I ever get experienced if I don't try? I just think I can handle it…"  
"I just worry about you, Takuya. I'd hate for you to run out into the city and never see you again. You're the first person I've been able to really talk to for a long time."  
Kouji's only other hardly redeeming quality was his funny attachment issues. Takuya drew a fine line at the word "mates," but whatever that meant, Kouji seemed to think that was more or less what they were. Takuya had a feeling that Kouji only ventured into the city for such short periods of time because he didn't want to be away from Takuya for very long.  
"Well, we're immortal, right? There's not a whole lot people can do to kill me."  
"It's nice to think that. Although, that's not exactly what I'm worried about."  
"That's all I'm concerned about. That and accidentally killing a bunch of people. But who really cares anyway? Their deaths are just a drop in the bucket, right?"  
He expected Kouji to roll his eyes and agree with him; he himself had said that they were _just humans_, and it was okay to kill them. Instead, Kouji snarled all of a sudden: "That's dangerous thinking, Takuya!" And then on second thought, he added angrily, "_Disgusting_ thinking!" Startled, Takuya quickly tried to back up and retreat, but there was no where to go, so he just pressed hard against the dirty walls.  
"Where'd that come from?" Kouji never tried to pull off like they weren't killing when they fed and he never tried to make it seem like it was anything but what it was. It never bothered him how many humans he'd killed over the years (which, once Takuya did the math, turned out to be a _lot_) and he never got all philosophical about it, especially at such an innocent comment. It was pretty hard for a vampire to sit and preach about killing, for obvious reasons.  
"I wasn't talking like on a large scale," he amended, but the anger he was directly faced with did not abate. "I didn't mean the same as like, setting a bomb off and killing thousands of people. I just mean if I lose it and kill one or two people, and I would be eating them anyway, what does it matter…?"  
"EVERY life matters. EVERY life causes some effect to someone. You can't take more than you have to, if you can help it. You have to ignore it sometimes to survive, but you can't use it as an excuse. I thought you understood that with how careful you are with your prey selection."  
"My life didn't seem to matter," he countered, expecting Kouji to understand at least this. Nothing had changed when he'd been cleanly wiped from the slate of life, and the world had easily gone on without him. He died, the sun rose, everyone else went on with their day. Same with Kouji, too. But he caught him off guard again:  
"To you, maybe. But it mattered. Don't ever become one of those monsters who ruthlessly kills for nothing because they think nothing matters."  
"Okay, okay. That's not what I meant, anyway. It just came out wrong."  
"You're a vampire. We are killers. But we don't have to be murderers."  
"And you lost me there, buddy. It's all the same in my book."

And at the unintentional reminder of books, Kouji stiffly returned to his. Takuya finally began to relax again, hoping the thick tension would eventually leave the air now that the rage was over. The little cave was crowded enough with two vampires without the addition of angst and anger suffocating them further.  
Kouji decided to officially end the conversation by mumbling, "And it seems we read from completely different tomes."  
Takuya, stubborn and determined to have the last word in what seemed like an argument, quipped back in response, "Mine says I'm leaving at dusk. I'm going alone." Kouji, just as determined to get in the last word, said boredly:  
"Suit yourself. I'll be waiting."  
"Fine, you do that."  
"You too."  
"I will."  
"Good."

Kouji didn't exactly sound "good" with the plan, but Takuya had already made his mind up; he was going home. Yes, he decided almost dreamily; home. To his family, or what was left of it anyway. He could pull off staying with them for a little while; it wouldn't be that hard. He'd just say he'd been kidnapped by some unknown men and had escaped, but he had amnesia. Or maybe that was too complicated; he could just say he'd run away but he'd decided to return. It didn't matter what he said; he'd say anything just to go home and find that his parents had been worried sick over his disappearance, and they'd been talking a lot and they were trying to work things out, and thank God he was home, he was all they could think about and they loved him…  
He jerked his mind back out of Kouji's grasp when he realized how close their minds were; how simple a task it was for Kouji to just wander in and start prodding around. He had a sad, sad look on his face, utter agony, and Takuya knew he'd seen.  
"It could happen," he said defensively. Kouji just hid his face with a quivering hand, and sighed. Maybe Takuya himself was just feeling too emotional at that moment, but it sounded almost like the drops of tears that would never come.  
"I'm really sorry, Takuya. I just hope you know that and I hope you remember that."  
"Sorry about what? You haven't done anything. Well, recently." Another sigh, like a tearless sob.

A few suspicious clouds had drifted over the powerful sun, threatening rain but simultaneously providing temporary cover. The trees would be thick enough to keep him sheltered for a few more hours. Even if they weren't, he had his cloak. He could stand it.  
"I'm leaving now." _I gotta get the hell out of here, _he almost said, but sternly bit his tongue to prevent the words from escaping.  
"Be careful," was all Kouji had to say to that, and he said it strong, like even if he could have started crying by now, he wouldn't be.

Takuya almost left without replying; he couldn't stand to his full height in the cave, but he did stand, hunched over comically as he shuffled towards the entrance. At the last second, he finally turned his head and said, "Don't worry." It was the best he could do, and he hoped it gave Kouji some kind of closure. Whether it did or not he did not know; Kouji was back to reading, his emotions were tightly boxed in, and unfortunately, he had no convenient mind reading power to see into his head. So when Kouji said nothing in reply, he couldn't do much more than fully emerge from the ice cave and begin sprinting to the thickest cover of trees he could find, even if he was practically blind in the brightness of daylight, cursing angrily whenever an uncovered body part made contact with the sun.

It would all be better soon. Just a few more hours and he could go home.

* * *

The next time Takuya acknowledged anything, it was dark. Sleep had come easily to someone who practiced pretty much nothing but sleeping for the past three to four months.  
Three to four months. He'd never been away from home for so long, never. What's more, he wondered if he even still had a home to go home to. His parents couldn't have forgotten about him in such a short period of time; his mother would surely welcome him home, and she'd be so relieved to find him safe and sound. Surely.

Takuya plucked off his sunglasses and stuffed them in his pocket. He realized with dismay that the world all around him was bathed with a pale red light, the hue of blood just starting to creep into everything. He was due to feed, and it would be careless to return to the city knowing he was hungry.  
He thought this, he knew this, but he went on anyway. Kouji wasn't there to lecture him or tell him off or scowl at him, so it was easy to ignore things like that. Logic was sometimes inconvenient.  
Judging by the moon, it was roughly nine o'clock, kind of late, but not so late that it was unusual for a kid to be out walking alone. But he had to get a move on; he had to be home before midnight at least, preferably a little earlier.  
The moon itself was a glowing red disc, a drop of blood in the sky. Takuya either didn't acknowledge this or chose to ignore it; instead he let his hood fall off his head, and cloaked by night, he let his body go.

Into the air he flew, ceasing to exist on the level of mortals. The city below him ceased to exist as well; he became night itself. Flying was effortless, almost without consequence, and almost faster than running. Speeding through the night air made him giddy, and were his heart still capable of doing so, it would've been banging in his chest. It was crazy and tremendously exciting, and he figured it was something you never quite got used to. When he looked down there were little lights and little buildings far below, and there he was, a phantom; a weightless, soundless shade, speeding through the darkness. He had no idea just how fast he was going, but given the distance he made in minutes that would've taken hours, he figured it was pretty damn fast.  
Takuya caught a glimpse of Shibuya Station just before he zoomed right over it, and he turned slowly, so as not to throw off his balance. He still hadn't figured out the finer mechanics of how vampires flew without wings or any apparent means of propulsion, but he'd decided it was safer not to risk a crash landing right in the middle of a bunch of humans. Slowly, carefully, he descended into the world of the humans, and began walking along, normal as can be. If anyone noticed him fly clean out of the air and start walking along with them, no one said anything.  
The world was redder. His body was finely tuned to the scent of prey everywhere, and he craved them. He ignored it, and instead broke into a run, careful to handicap himself sufficiently enough to seem human. His hood flew along behind him as he bolted through the streets, between the people and the obstacles in his way, searching for his home; his true home. He was home.  
He was home.

Takuya could see his home now. He stopped running and somehow became heavier, more solid. He walked with a purpose, a little unsure, but dedicated. He breathed deeply and shuddered with anticipation, almost brought to his knees by the comforting, familiar structure. But what about inside? Would his mom still be there? Or Shinya? Maybe even his dad? What would they do when they realized he was alive, when he magically reappeared?  
He adjusted his fangs, which were steadily growing larger, (and had gone unnoticed by Takuya) and brushed off his dirty cloak. Or should he take it off? He hadn't bathed all those four months, but he didn't stink. He thought. But his clothes underneath were covered in blood…  
He was walking straight at his house, blindly ignoring everything in his path until he stood before the entrance of the house that had served him well in childhood. He was close to bursting with happiness as he absorbed it, and he couldn't believe when all of a sudden, the big, blunt words struck him out of nowhere:  
**FOR SALE.  
**Takuya was temporarily frozen. He wondered for a minute if he'd forgotten how to read in those few months. Maybe the words said something else, something less incriminating. But he rubbed his eyes, and looked again, and the sign still said, "For Sale."  
"What the hell…?" He crept close to the house, looking around anxiously for any sign of life. The street was deserted, and by the looks of things, so was the house. Feeling conspicuous, he slipped his hood back on and looked around guiltily, like maybe he had the wrong house somehow and he was in the wrong place altogether.  
No, it was right there. His home. For sale. The house he'd grown up in was for sale, and it was empty, and there was no one inside it.  
Four months. That's all he was gone for, four months. In four months his mother had packed up and gone off with Shinya and-  
No, she wouldn't have left before the house was sold. That wouldn't have been smart. She should still be here. But when he peeked in the windows, he saw no sign of life; no modern comforts of home. Just empty house.  
Four months really was longer than he thought, he supposed…

It didn't feel right. Nothing about this felt right. Takuya could feel the feelings of others as if they were his own, and when it came to his own feelings, there was nothing to debate. There was something suspiciously, perversely off with the whole thing. But what exactly could he do to find out? All he knew was that the house was for sale, and his mother was gone.  
Dad. He could call his dad. But that'd be so awkward; all he wanted to do was see his mom, and he'd promised Kouji that he wouldn't talk to anyone. Damnit, this was supposed to be so easy; all he was going to do was just peek in and see his mom's face…maybe talk to her…  
Shinya? Shinya probably still had the same cell phone number. But he didn't have a phone anymore, and couldn't call his brother from a payphone. But surely someone would lend him their phone for a second. Even strangers would kindly lend another stranger their phone if it was an emergency. But that involved interacting with people, and he was hungry…

Four months. Just four lousy months and all of a sudden everything changed and became strange and unfamiliar. What would years be like? Decades?

He couldn't bear the site of his empty home anymore. He turned away from it and began sulking down the street, miserably setting off with no particular goal in mind. What the frig was he supposed to do? The night was getting later; there weren't any convenient passer bys whom he could derive an explanation out of. And what the frig was he supposed to say to them? "Hey, I'm the kid who mysteriously disappeared; have you heard about me? Oh, and what happened to my family?"  
That's when it suddenly occurred to him: newspapers! Maybe he wasn't anyone important, sure, but at some point his disappearance must have been noted in a newspaper or something, right? He was still a kid who went mysteriously missing one night, and certainly his mother would've caused a nice big fuss about it. MUST have!  
This was definitely the answer to more than a few questions he had floating around right now. Good old newspapers; thank God they were still around.

Except, Takuya realized miserably roughly an hour later, they were typically outdated and far too tedious to browse when looking for a specific subject. He'd already purchased a dozen of the blasted things, and had disposed of all of them, one by one. None of them contained anything about him or anything that would be useful in determining what happened during his absence. What was worse, it was getting steadily harder to read them with everything still glowing red. Takuya had a funny thought as he struggled to read the newspapers through the haze: '_So what's black, white, and red all over…?'_  
Despite his fruitless searching, he did find a couple of references to an incident that happened in Shizuoka, something like five months ago according to the dates on the newspaper. Takuya was curious about this incident, but how was he supposed to find newspaper articles about an event that happened five months ago without access to the internet? It was impossible…

As he found his way deeper and deeper into the heart of the city, he found more and more people. His eyes were drawn to the people and his fangs tingled in excitement as he saw their vibrant life and heard their pounding hearts. Not a single body passed him without making him shudder all over; it simply took every last ounce of strength that he had to keep from attacking every single one.  
And as countless bodies stormed passed the vampire, once again completely invisible to them, he began to realize that many of them were holding phones, clever phones that may as well be computers, and many of them were carrying around big square bags; lap top pouches.  
Suddenly, it wasn't so impossible to find ancient newspaper articles. In fact, it was as easy as wantonly lifting a bag off of a passing stranger and then slipping away like a shade; it seemed that the human himself was absolutely none the wiser. It was deplorable to know he was just as bad a thief as Kouji, but what the hell; desperate times called for desperate measures. Besides, Takuya was no longer helpless, for he now had the omniscient power of the internet at his fingertips, and finding his mother was worth all the guilt in the world. It wasn't like he was going to remain in the city causing trouble, absolutely not. As soon as he located his mother, it was back to the mountain for him, and he had no plans of coming down again any time soon. He didn't think he could handle the temptation.

It was easy work finding a hot spot (unfortunately in a crowded place, but Takuya put every bit of his focus into the computer and thoroughly ignored the delectable humans surrounding him) and the lap top loaded up with no problems; no password required. It had been so long since he'd had to touch a computer that he was at first completely overwhelmed, but he quickly readjusted.  
He located a news archive, and set the search date to anywhere between three and six months ago. He searched for "missing teen."  
He got a lot of hits, more than he was interested in sifting through. There was no time to go on a scavenger hunt.  
Instead he tried typing in his perimeters; age, height, hair color, etc. Apparently these kinds of people very commonly went missing between three and six months ago.  
He realized he was accessing news articles from all over Japan, and he instead narrowed it down to Shibuya, Shinjuku, and after a second thought, Shizuoka.  
Then he decided to try the obvious: he typed in his own name, Kanbara Takuya.  
The articles he pulled up completely shocked him.

**TEEN REPORTED MISSING- CULT ACTIVIST?**

**DANGEROUS INDIVIDUAL AT LARGE, MISSING TEEN**

**WARRANT FOR ARRESTED REVEALED FOR "DEMON CULT LEADER"**

He went all the way back to the very first article published about him, and was stunned when the page pulled up a picture.  
It was pretty grainy and not the highest quality, probably one taken from a cell phone. It showed a savage boy with blood red eyes and razor sharp fangs protruding from his mouth; he was poised to attack a security guard, even though he had a gun drawn on him practically at point blank range.  
He could only stare at the image dumbly. He stared at the face of a stranger, (certainly it wasn't him!) twisted in rage and hatred. His snarl was practically a cunning smile. The onlookers looked scared to death.

**TERROR STRIKES IN MALL ATTACK.**

Kouji was nowhere to be found. Obviously no one had bothered to capture pictures. But there were several pictures, all of Takuya, all looking like he was possessed by some otherworldly demon.  
It couldn't be him.

**EYE WITNESSES IDENTIFY KANBARA TAKUYA, 17.**

Holy shit.  
Takuya couldn't even read the articles themselves; he could only absorb snippets of sentences and particularly strong words. It was all just unreal. It was clearly a dream and a horrible misunderstanding; there was no way anyone would mistake him for some cultist or something, right? So he looked a little creepy in the pictures, so he was trying to suck the blood of strangers. Everyone was just jumping to conclusions because they were scared. There was no way this was anything but a bad dream.  
The dream suddenly became a nightmare after:

**DEMON TEEN ONLY SUSPECT IN WOMAN'S MURDER**

And all hell broke loose when:

"Authorities have revealed that their main suspect in the murder of Kanbara Yuriko (48) is none other than Kanbara-san's son himself, Kanbara Takuya (17). According to Kanbara Hiroaki (husband and father), the boy was being sent to see his mother late in the evening. Police found evidence that the boy arrived home, including the luggage Kanbara Hiroaki-san identified as his son's, and various disturbed items around the house, including a slept-in bed.

Kanbara Yuriko was reportedly murdered in her sleep and died as a result of exsanguination; rather, she bled to death. Very little blood was found remaining in Kanbara-san's body and police have attributed this to some sort of blood ritual performed by Kanbara Takuya, who caused a large disturbance at a mall in Shizuoka for assaulting several people and attempting to bite them, presumably to drink their blood. No fingerprints were discovered at the scene and the murder weapon, if there is one, has not been found. However, due to the erratic behavior Kanbara Takuya exhibited after the murder and because he was alone with his mother during her estimated time of death, authorities are certain that he is responsible.

Kanbara Takuya is wanted for murder, assault and battery, and potentially robbery. He is currently missing and has not been seen since the Shizuoka Mall Attack; it is presumed that he has found shelter within the demon cult he is thought to represent.

A well-known local Satanic group denies all knowledge of this individual and his actions.

Kanbara Takuya is 5'9", weighs approximately 170 lbs, and has brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen in a black cloak and green cargo pants, and his accessories include sunglasses, fake fangs and red contact lenses.  
If you can offer us any information on the whereabouts of this dangerous individual, please contact your local police immediately!"

* * *

Takuya sped through the forest, invisible and impossibly fast, aided by the blanket of night. He acknowledged nothing; trees could not detain him, fatigue could not drain him. He was beyond livid, simply so enraged and hurt that he could barely even see. Trees fell in his path and startled animals fled frantically with every leap and bound. The world was pure, pulsing red, and it added to his blindness; there was nothing but red. But he didn't need to see, he could smell. The human Takuya couldn't smell the vampire Kouji, but-  
Kouji. Kouji. Murderous little Kouji betrayed him. All this time he was supposed to be his friend, his ally, supposedly his _mate_, whatever the hell that meant for vampires. But no, the nefarious little devil had sat there for months and lied to him all this time.  
Maybe he didn't lie, but he hid the truth. That was deception, and that was lying.  
By the time he broke through the thick trees of Aokigahara, the world had slowly returned to him, bathed entirely in that bloody light. He could barely discern shapes through the dark crimson haze, but he saw Kouji. Kouji shined.  
He hadn't noticed Takuya yet; Takuya was a shadow, an illusion. But _he_ could see Kouji. It was weird; he was up in a tree for some reason, etching into the bark with his menacing claws.

Soundless, he leapt into the tree with him, easily a straight 20 feet in the air. The branch gave barely an inch, and a leaf was pulled from place, but it was enough to make Kouji turn around, startled. Before he even caught Takuya's eye, he looked guilty, like he'd been caught doing something he hadn't wanted anyone to see.  
When he finally absorbed the raw anger in his companion's face, the sheer hatred Takuya was radiating towards him, he looked acutely afraid. "Takuya," he got out, sounding extremely strained as he fought to be calm when he had warning bells going off. "What's wrong? You look upset." Kouji's voice had quickly become something friendly and soothing, and all of a sudden it was now alien and disconcerting. He was shuffling around a bit, hiding his etchings with his body. Keeping _more_ secrets from him.  
Takuya angrily shoved him out of the way, but the branch was far too small for Kouji to go anywhere, and for a moment he was about to fall. Instead, Kouji leapt to another branch, a little lower down, and he looked tempted to keep going.  
Takuya was squinting through the hazy blood red hues, looking for the markings he knew were on the tree. Then they were clear: they were characters. Very fancy hiragana that he could barely make out. One name he couldn't quite read, but the other he could. Takuya. The names were inside a crude heart. It might have embarrassed him if he weren't so boiling with rage; it might have been cute if – "How dare you." – _Kouji hadn't killed his fucking mother! _"How _dare_ you," he seethed again, hissing, clenching and tensing his fists in anticipation of hurting Kouji as much as he was physically able to.  
All Kouji could do was back away and try to dig into his companion's mind. All he found was rage.  
"Takuya, what happened?" Kouji started again, trying to sound conversational and sympathetic. "What-" there was no confusion. He felt no bemusement or anything like that. Knowing. Guilt. Fear. That is what he felt. "-what are you doing?"  
"You…YOU!"

With what could have been a beastly roar, Takuya flew at him, with every intention of killing his companion if he could just get his hands on him. Kouji tried to move out of the way, and at first it seemed that he'd dodged in time. Kouji was faster, no doubt about it. But in response, Takuya caught him by surprise; out of nowhere he knocked off his feet and forced him to the ground, using sheer brute strength to overwhelm his elder. Kouji lay still where he'd fallen, and did not speak. He might have been dead if not for his shifting eyes, wide with fear.  
"You know what you did," Takuya said coldly. He rose and was now standing over him, looking down at his friend with utmost contempt.  
Kouji tried to appear unshaken, and he said back, "I believe so."  
Takuya aimed a hard kick at him, but he easily avoided it. He tried to stomp on him; he easily avoided it. He wasn't allowing any more surprises. "You killed her, didn't you?" he hissed, in such a low, quiet voice that Takuya could barely hear himself.  
"Yes," was all Kouji said in response. He was slowly getting to his feet, watching Takuya carefully for any further signs of violence.  
"You KILLED her! IT WAS YOU! YOU _KILLED_ HER. SAY THAT. ADMIT IT!"  
"I killed your mother," Kouji freely admitted, even as he continued backing away. Takuya forgot that he could feel true emotions that were below the surface, and all he saw was Kouji's face, looking stoic and free of guilt and maybe even PROUD.

Takuya couldn't even say anything. He just attacked, rushing right at Kouji with fierce determination. When he missed, he tried again. And again. But each time he disappeared, easily dodging his bull rushing advances. The second Takuya realized where he'd moved to, he'd run at him, anticipating collision at any second. And then he would meet nothing but air, and Kouji would not be there.  
Then he finally got lucky; his punches missed, but his charge did not, and he succeeded in knocking him to the ground again. He stayed there as Takuya threw a punch at his face; and though it hit him, it didn't seem to hurt him.  
What enraged Takuya even more was that he could feel Kouji being weak. He was purposely holding back. He was pretending to be overtaken, like he'd tried his best to fight and was too exhausted to resist being pummeled by an angry vampire, but he wasn't. Takuya could feel reserves of strength dwelling deep inside him, more than Takuya certainly had available. He punched him over and over again, and still Kouji took it, appearing to be shamefully defeated when he still had so much strength left.  
"Fight me…" Takuya sobbed, and he leapt off of him, then kicked him, square in the gut this time. "Fight me damn you! Don't play off like you're innocent! You're not! You deserve it…" When Kouji didn't speak, didn't even acknowledge him, Takuya shrieked, "YOU KILLED MY MOM!" and finally went for the throat. He didn't really know why; he knew it wouldn't kill Kouji, but for some reason it felt like the only reasonable thing left to do.  
In the end it was this attack that made Kouji react, and he easily escaped, silently appearing at his side as if he'd simply teleported there. He was scowling, looking abashed, but still calm.  
"Yes, I did," he confirmed again, still apparently with no emotion. "But I'm not letting you kill me too."  
"Then fight me you coward! Little pussy-faced COWARD!"

Kouji did not fight him. He defended himself and he refused to let Takuya get anywhere close to killing him, but he did not fight. Takuya punched, Kouji blocked. Takuya lunged, Kouji dodged. He easily avoided every advance he tried, and Kouji was barely even trying at all.  
"Why, Kouji? Why the hell did you do it? Why the fuck didn't you tell me? Why…why let me take the fall, they think I killed my mom…"  
"I know. I'm sorry."  
"You KNEW THE WHOLE TIME! You never let me see those fucking newspapers, you never told me anything! You just kept me in the dark…!"  
"I was trying to protect you." Kouji let one of the flying fists make contact with his face. He seemed no worse off for the wear. "I didn't mean to-"  
"Didn't mean to make me a criminal? Didn't mean to abandon me completely when it came to the news? Didn't mean to what, you bastard? You sure as hell meant to kill my mom. She bled to death, you asshole." More flying punches. Some hit, some didn't. Takuya's face was completely clenched in rage and despair, but Kouji was entirely nondescript. "You bled her to death. You MEANT to kill her like you should've killed me. Why the fuck did you have to come in and fuck with my family?"  
"I didn't…" Takuya was losing stream as anger slowly ebbed away, but Kouji was still strong. As hard as he tried, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered at all. "I didn't want it to be like this…" Takuya gave up trying to seek vengeance on an impenetrable vampire. It wasn't working. He wasn't getting anywhere. It was all pointless. When he couldn't release his anguish in tears, or in violence, he had to try something else.

"You know what? FINE." He threw down his fists and backed off, all at once over and done with fighting. Kouji stood only inches from him, tense, but calm. "FINE! I give up! I GIVE UP okay? You win! You killed my MOTHER and got away with it, happy?"  
"No." He didn't look happy; rather, he looked even more miserable than Takuya did at the moment. "I did it before I knew you, before I changed you and we became companions. I never thought we would-"  
"Fuck you, alright? Just fuck you." He was backing away, preparing to bolt. He still had that look of pure, seething anger on his face. His eyes were still dark, blood red, and his fangs had grown exponentially, longer than they ever had been before.  
"Please calm down." Kouji's voice was a twisted sob; if Takuya hadn't known any better, he'd have thought that Kouji had finally broken down crying. "Please don't go back. You'll kill people."  
"Who cares? Hell, if you can kill my mom and that's okay, I might as well kill the whole damn city! WHO CARES? They're just _human_! They can die!"  
"I'll just catch you. I'll outrun you. I won't let you go on some killing rampage."  
"Just try. Oh, you little fucking traitor, you just try. I'll kill you if you touch me; that's a promise." Takuya took a few preemptive steps back; Kouji did not follow. The truth was obvious; Kouji would hesitate to kill who he still thought of as his friend, but Takuya would not hesitate at all. Oh no, he rather wanted him to try, to give him a reason to tear him apart. He was mad with grief, and there was no silly attachment bond to stop him from killing someone who'd once been his friend.  
"Okay," Kouji said, letting down all of his defenses, almost inviting Takuya to make a move at him again if he found it preferable to killing. "Go. Go murder innocent people and see what happens."  
A chill crept down his spine when Takuya coolly said, "I will," and disappeared into the darkness. Kouji stayed steadfast in the same spot, still disgustingly unable to cry.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm about to leave somewhere for a week, so this chapter isn't completely polished and hasn't been entirely spell/grammar checked. And when I upload to they like to totally fuck with my paragraph spacing and I usually have to spend like an hour fixing it, but I need to get to bed. But I wanted to post it real quick since I finished it. I'll probably be messing with it a little more, fixing what needs to be fixed and potentially adding on, and the rest of the chapters are getting a little polishing too. Nothing drastic, just minor alterations.  
Last chapter before the really important stuff happens. That chapter and the one after it already boast a word count of roughly 3000 words each, so hopefully I can get them out a lot sooner than this update took. This story should end at about ten or eleven chapters.  
Being in the Army is awesome. (not it's not)

Enjoy.

Red Tone

The vampire stood silently on the train, keeping his hood up and his head down. It was as if no one noticed him, like they had all just decided unanimously that the vampire who should have been terribly obvious simply didn't exist. That was for the best; had any unwitting human chose to bother him at that moment, he would have killed the whole car full of them.  
It was so strange; he was a wanted criminal, a menace to all of Japan apparently, and no one seemed to think to themselves, hey, isn't that the possessed devil child who killed his own mother…?

Takuya had mentally evolved. He was past senseless rage; he was even past crippling bloodlust. Now he was calm, a demon frighteningly intelligent and seeking vengeance. Sure, he was still angry, and sure he still felt a deep, pulsing hatred for Kouji that was still fresh and potent, but he'd harnessed all that to make it useful. He could think. He could plan and utilize his rage, and his lethal vampire body was eager to use everything he had at his disposal. It was like it had been waiting this whole time to do exactly what Takuya wanted to do right now, and it was giddy with anticipation. He felt like he could kill the whole city and get away with it, if he was up to the challenge. He was still debating.

Takuya wasn't totally sure where he was, (hiding in the recesses of his mind, practically lost in a trance or some sort of meditation, he hadn't heard the announcement of the stop) but the train was slowing. Late at night there were less people riding, but there were many to choose from. Takuya dare not approach any of them just yet, but when the majority chose to get off at this stop, Takuya followed. He still seemed to be little more than a breeze, and no one seemed to pay any attention to him at all. As solid as he was, he still seemed to be merely a shadow to them.

As he moved between the live people, he appraised all of them, taking into account life and likeliness of having tasty blood and whether or not he was "supposed" to eat them according to his rules. They remained ignorant of the demon lurking among them, even when he got close, very close, within inches, to smell them.

The group moved off the train in one solid mass, but slowly dissipated once they were free, finding their own separate ways; some went off alone, most went in pairs or groups. All of them were potential targets.

Takuya knew it would be an easy thing to have any of the clueless humans that were wandering helplessly through the station; they were all so blind that overtaking them would be quick and painless. No one would know it'd been him, or maybe they would if anyone got a good look at his face. Either way, it didn't matter. He'd still get away with it. They couldn't fight back; they were all so shamefully fragile.

He identified a young male. Judging by appearances he was probably 17, maybe 18.  
Takuya didn't acknowledge that the boy was around his age.

He was alone and didn't appear to be waiting for someone. He just walked away, silently, a little world all on his own. He didn't acknowledge anyone around him, didn't seem to think anyone else existed. Judging by his attire he seemed ready for a full night of clubbing, but judging by his smell, he hadn't started yet. Starting late for some reason, he supposed.

Takuya looked around at the other potential targets; this kid was the youngest out of all of them, and the youngest woman there was likely in her thirties. The loner seemed like his best option at the moment. If he wasn't satisfying he could always go out and find a new one.

Takuya followed the boy as he walked down the sidewalks, mostly deserted now that it was pushing midnight. His steps made no sound and his breath did nothing to break the silence. The boy did not notice the demon trailing him for the three straight blocks he walked until he reached a convenience store, and when he went in, it didn't occur to him that it was odd for the door to remain open for an extra second or two after he'd entered.

The boy collected two bottles of soda (Mountain Dew and strawberry Ramune) and a box of pizza Pretz. When he reached the counter he asked for a pack of cigarettes, and revealed his ID. Takuya, glancing over his shoulder as inconspicuously as he knew how, only caught his given name. Makoto.

So either Makoto was 20 or he had a fake ID if he was buying cigarettes. In the grand scheme of things that didn't change much; 20 was still young, he was just barely above being a child.

Makoto silently pocketed the cigarettes and without even saying thank you, picked up his bagged purchases and began walking away. The man behind the counter didn't even notice; Takuya realized he was staring at him, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Can I help you?" he asked calmly.

"No, I'm with him. Thank you very much." Takuya eyed him as long as he could as he walked away to follow Makoto, but saw him do nothing strange, which in itself was strange. The man continued standing there, motionless. The man shouldn't be suspicious, right? Makoto had bought two bottles of soda; one for each of them. Was it so farfetched to assume they were walking together?  
The second he stepped out the door and let it close behind him, he glanced over his shoulder, and he saw that the man had pulled out his cell phone and was making a call. He looked frightened and excited at the same time.

Fuck.  
He was still wearing exactly what he'd been wearing during the "Shizuoka Mall Attack." He was a wanted killer. If he wasn't careful, he could still be recognized.

Takuya hesitated at the door and he glanced again at Makoto. Not long after he reemerged onto the streets, Makoto stopped to stick a cigarette in his mouth and light it. As he was returning the lighter to his pocket, he missed the mark, and it tumbled onto the concrete below. He didn't seem to notice; he just stood there for a few moments, taking a few deep drags on the cigarette.  
Even if Takuya stopped for a second, Makoto wasn't in a hurry and he wasn't going anywhere fast. He had time.

The man behind the counter realized that Takuya was still standing at the door. He still had the phone to his head, but he was frozen, staring frightfully at the boy he'd recognized as a killer. With his free hand, he was gropping under the counter for something.  
Takuya turned and opened the door again. He took a step back inside.  
"Get out of here," the man managed to say in his bravest voice, and he even managed to lift a pistol into the air. Then Takuya lunged for him; in milliseconds he went from the door to the counter, and easily cleared it as his hands latched onto the man's shoulders. He stumbled backwards from the tackle, and with Takuya's added weight he went crashing to the ground. The gun fell from his grip and disappeared. Then, the vampire opened his mouth with a high-pitched hiss, and the man had only time for one short groan before the dripping fangs latched onto his throat. Then he was silent, and while for a few seconds after his body remained stiff, after Takuya ripped open at least one carotid artery and began practically inhaling his blood, his body became limp.

The phone eventually started emitting a dial tone, and then reduced to irritating beeping shortly afterwards. Takuya only reached for it as soon as the man's lifeless body was sucked completely dry of sweet red blood, and as he panted in satisfaction, he crushed it, single-handedly. The noise stopped.  
He still wasn't sated. Ordinarily one human was more than enough to fill him, but just this man's life hadn't been anywhere near enough. The world was still saturated in bloody red tones.

The vampire tried to wipe himself off as he stood from the corpse; the man had impolitely sprayed a significant amount of blood down the front of his robe, and while it was dull black, the bright red still glowed conspicuously. In the darkness, for a human, it was probably unnoticeable, but anyone who got too close would probably see it for what it was.  
He could always get a new robe later, he figured. Right now it wasn't that big a deal. He had more prey to collect. The night was still young, and he still felt fresh and strong, and still oh so hungry.

From the outside Takuya had noticed that the convenience store had an upper floor, and he quickly decided to explore it, should he find any family members of the man he could kill quickly as well. To spare them suffering, he said to himself. They ought to die too.  
It seemed the clerk had lived up here; the entire second floor was a modern apartment, no different than any other. There were only four rooms, but none of them contained another human; just a plain black cat curled up on a futon.  
Takuya didn't like the cat; it made him uneasy. Silently he fell upon the cat and ripped its throat before it even woke, gulping down its sweet blood as it passed immediately from peaceful slumber into peaceful death.  
Briefly he thought that Kouji was right; housecats had a very unique tasting blood. Not so delicious as humans, but not as grody as regular animal blood.  
But thinking of Kouji made his eyes flash red again, and as soon as he finished he quickly escaped downstairs, ending up right back at the man's lifeless body. He was cold now. He touched the blood splattered on his robes; it was cold too, and not yet dry. Some bright red still rubbed off on his fingers. He licked it off.

Takuya calmly stepped around the corpse and out from behind the counter, stepping briskly to the door and again opening and closing it.  
Makoto had disappeared somewhere, but Takuya easily caught the wafting odor of a cigarette, fresh on the breeze. It took nearly no effort to discern his direction, and once Takuya decided that he would continue hunting the boy, he followed it.

As he took his first few steps in Makoto's direction, he felt himself step on something small, hard, and solid, something with more substance than a stone or some other unimportant object. He looked at the ground curiously for the culprit, and found the lighter that Makoto had misplaced earlier. It was black, practically invisible at night, with a little sticker of Snoopy grinning comically on one side. Takuya bent down to pick it up, and he fiddled with it for a few seconds to determine what to do with it.  
It was almost full, which would've made Kouji throw it away immediately. He was terrified of any propellant, like alone lighters, which contained both the propellant and the flame all in one. Anything that could cause a flame and maintain it was bad news for vampires; Kouji rarely chose prey he knew for certain were smokers for this reason.  
Maybe it was just because he wanted to do the opposite of Kouji, but Takuya decided to stuff it in his own pocket, and he promptly forgot about it afterwards. It wasn't that important, but he liked the idea of a memento. It kind of amused him.

Makoto took his time wherever he was going, because Takuya caught up with him in short notice and continued stalking him. He didn't exactly understand what the human was doing or where he was going at this point, but in the end, he walked right into the perfect scene for his death.

No matter what the time, being in the city ran the risk of discovery, and Takuya had been wondering how he was going to get around this. The boy solved the problem for him by heading straight into a park; dark, quiet, and solitary. He couldn't smell another human around for almost half a mile, which was about as far away from civilization as he was going to get in the city. Makoto was blessedly alone, and that gave him every opportunity in the world to finally take him down.

Makoto was just sort of carelessly standing around, chugging the Mountain Dew while he kept the Ramune aside. The Pretz had been picked at. He would glance around every now and then and look down at his watch, and then repeat it all over again. It didn't occur to Takuya that any of this might've meant something.  
Though he hadn't exactly been aware that he'd been anywhere otherwise, Takuya felt himself stepping back into the plane of humans. His footsteps echoed faintly on the worn cement path as he walked towards the loner; he didn't try to hide in the silent shadows, he just walked. Maybe he figured Makoto deserved to know his death was coming.

Now that he'd fully emerged on the human's level, he realized that the weather was nasty tonight. The air was humid and hot, and wind was gusting up every now and then. The sky was crowded with big black clouds. It seemed almost certain to rain at any moment.  
Takuya didn't really mind. Rain didn't hurt as much as standing water. It was no big deal. He continued walking straight towards his prey.  
Makoto initially seemed concerned when he looked up and all of a sudden there was a stranger a couple of feet away. Takuya felt how confused he was; he was probably questioning himself, wondering things like, "Has that guy always been there?" and "How did I not notice him until now?" But he shrugged it off; the stranger was minding his own business and didn't even seem to have noticed him. Even as he was getting closer, the cloaked figure seemed to be looking anywhere but at him.  
Makoto took another swig of his Mountain Dew. The bottle was almost empty. He looked at his watch again and sighed.

"Good evening."  
Makoto seemed to be trying equally as hard to avoid looking at the vampire, and after he curtly acknowledged him with a "Hey," he seemed to promptly ignore he was there. He began pacing.  
"Nasty night, isn't it?"  
The boy seemed uneasy, and at first he continued facing away from the stranger. But he decided in the end that it was stupid to have his back to someone, and he turned just slightly towards him. "Yeah, I guess."  
Takuya had lifted his hood, just enough to reveal his face but still cast a shadow over it. He was smiling. His fangs were clearly visible. "You seem kind of lonely tonight."  
Makoto's eyes went wide and all the color drained from his face. Somehow, he knew. Takuya didn't know how he knew, but he knew. He took a step back. "D-don't touch me," he stammered.  
The ruse was up; no more playing with the prey. He'd meant to actually seduce this one, like he was supposed to. Maybe he'd done it wrong somehow, been too sloppy about it.  
Oh well; Takuya was getting impatient anyway. He lifted his hood a little bit more, and his dark, crimson eyes gleamed in the night. And Makoto stared at them, dumbly, paralyzed to the spot. He dropped his purchases and the Ramune shattered upon impact.  
"Don't be afraid," Takuya assured him. It was kind of a meaningless gesture at this point; Makoto wasn't going anywhere. If he still knew what fear was, he didn't seem overwhelmed by it. "It's alright. I'll make this quick for you." He hoped Kouji had made it quick for his mom. She was found in bed, so maybe he'd done it while she was asleep. Maybe she never even knew.

Then again: "Or maybe I should drag it out. I could torture you for days." Takuya took a few steps towards the boy. He didn't move, and he didn't seem to have any emotion on his face at all. "I could make you wish you were dead, but you'll never reach that point. I could do this to you. I could turn you into what I am, make you feel the same kind of agony." He was inches away from Makoto now. He put a hand to his face, and the human still didn't react. Takuya wondered if he still thought; if he still had a conscious right now. If he was asking "Why," like the victims in his nightmares. "But I don't feel like it tonight, I guess." Maybe not to Makoto. This kid was just a nobody, someone picked off randomly. He didn't remind Takuya enough of Kouji. He'd finish off this guy and find someone else later, someone more like Kouji. Then he'd make him miserable. "Don't worry," he assured Makoto again. He lifted his head slightly, revealing the boy's tender neck. "Death is unquestionably better. You'll thank me."  
Makoto still did not respond. His adam's apple shuddered as he swallowed, but that was all.

Takuya was too overwhelmed by the bloodlust to take note of his surroundings. All he knew was that the delightful stench of human was practically making him sick. It was so good, this heavenly smell; it made him weak and stupid again, even despite his earlier kill. That one had been made with no anticipation, no preparation. It had been a necessity, not an enjoyment, and the blood had been subpar. This was a kill to relish.

His fingertips massaged the human's neck delicately until they found a pulse; Makoto didn't seem excited or frightened at all. He seemed rather calm and accepting of death. Given how complacent his face was, one could easily assume that he even wanted to die.  
His eyes told a different story, but Takuya didn't care. So the kid was going to die. Big deal. He'd lived the best part of his life. No one would miss Makoto, just like no one had missed him.  
Takuya slowly leaned forward and put his lips on the boy's neck. He tensed up and his fists clenched; for a second it seemed like the hypnotism would wear off. But it didn't. He was still captured by the vampire's spell, and he didn't even flinch, not even when the fangs pierced his skin, and not even when his blood flowed freely from his veins. Takuya held his shoulders, just in case, but his victim put up no further resistance. Makoto had ceased to exist; he was simply a shell of his former self, only a source of flesh and blood and nothing speaking of human.

Slowly the life was drained from the boy, and right as the heavenly fluid flowed down the vampire's throat, the sky grumbled one more time, and suddenly there was rain, everywhere; engulfing everything in a cold, piercing shower. It started slowly at first, kind of like the blood spurting in his mouth; slow, deliberate, enjoyable. Then it came fast, like nothing could control it.  
The boy's body began to sag, and then all of a sudden, it drooped to the ground, empty. The vampire crouched above him, still tethered to the bleeding wound, sucking up the last of what precious liquid remained and ignorant to the world until he heard a soft, muffled scream.

He jerked his head up in surprise, staring like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. Only a few feet away was a young woman, and she was just as frozen as he was, staring at the vampire in utter shock and with a hand over her mouth. Seconds after they made eye contact, she started to whimper, and her eyes flitted from Makoto to his killer with terrified knowing. She took a step back; looked like she was about to fall to her knees, but caught herself. Tried to scream; couldn't make a sound except to breathlessly cry, "Makoto..."  
And Takuya watched her helplessly, unable to say anything more complicated than "Wait!" as she finally found the power to turn around and run, silently, still obviously in too much shock and overwhelmed by grief to even scream.  
Makoto lay still in his arms, lifeless.  
What had he done?

Shakily, the vampire got to his feet and let his victim fall to the ground. He took a few steps back to get away from the corpse, trying to escape the reality that was all too real. It wasn't that he'd killed another person; that was nothing. He'd had to kill someone before. It wasn't that he'd been caught in the act; that was nothing. He could just chase her down and kill her too. It was that he hadn't seen what was so clearly happening before him, didn't realize that a human he'd marked as prey had just been a boy trying to meet up with his girl. And now the boy was dead, and the girl had seen everything. He could still see the horror in her eyes.

The sky continued shedding its vast collection of water unil it gradually became a downpour, leaving dozens of little puddles reflecting the little beams of light from the city in the distance. As heavy as the rain came down, and as thick as the clouds quilted the sky, the moon still shone through a little break in the darkness, just adequate enough to spill its dull light into the puddles. And the moon was no longer red; it was pure and white, untainted by the surrounding darkness.  
The boy's body rest upon a segment of the pathway that dipped a little lower than the rest, which meant that the streaming water quickly began to collect in it. Soon water covered his body up to an inch, and he remained still, as did the monster beside him.

For a vampire such as Takuya, it was a serious irritant to sit in the rain for as long as he did. His clothes were soaked, and his skin was actually beginning to burn, he was so wet. His sopping wet hair was plasterd to his head, and it dripped into his eyes, which stung. He was okay with this part; it kind of felt like he was crying.  
At last, though, he couldn't stay put any longer. The rainfall was too intense to sit idly by as it pelted him. He stood slowly, still straring off into the direction that the frightened woman had run off too.  
He said dryly to the corpse in the puddle by his feet, "You should go after her, man." The body said nothing back, as Takuya had expected. He was just so overwhelmed with grief os his own that he needed o say something, needed to crack some joke or abuse some form of irony to alleviate this agony. But of course, Makoto would not reply. He never would.

While Takuya found it essential to move as soon as possible, he felt there was one last thing to do to his victim before he left him. First he lifted him from the gritty puddle water, and set him down again on the rainwashed stone. He checked to be sure that he stil had his ID, so that he would be easily identified no matter who found him. To at least give investigators some kind of motive, that they wouldn't worry so much over WHY he was killed, Takuya also pulled out two credit cards, a debit card, and a rather unimpressive stack of bills from his wallet. These things Takuya had already decided to dispose of given the first opportunity, but he figured it would be easier for his family to accept that some poor, needy soul had killed their son in desperation rather than just a random act of violence. Maybe not, but he needed to try.

After he kneeled over him for a few moments, saying a silent prayer, he effortlessly lifted the body from the puddle, and in a few swift bounds, brought him off the path, into vegetation. The foliage wasn't very thick, and it wasn't very far away from the main path, so Makoto was sure to be found in the near future. Probably in a most unpleasant way, but Takuya would rather his discovery be quick and unpleasant than long and frustrating for his family, if found at all.  
It was here Takuya left him, nestled beneath a tall, sheltering tree, clearly in plain view. He hoped he would be with his family again soon.  
Now to find the girl.

Takuya sent Makoto one last apologetic glance before he leapt up into the sky, seemingly melding into the darkness above. The rain grew more powerful the faster he flew to avoid it, and even his expert vision and hearing were severely handicapped by the fierce downpour, as well as his speed. He struggled for dominance against the storm the second he was in the air, flying haphazardly in the wind and watery pellets. It was hopeless trying to track her like this.  
He'd barely made it out of the park again before he began easing himself into as careful a landing as he could. While he was at it, he happened upon some unfortunate soul slowly treading along in the rain with a thin, black umbrella. 'At midnight, in this weather,' thought Takuya mometarily, and he shook his head in disbelief. He sometimes forgot how stupid humans were. Worse, the poor guy had a briefcase, like he was coming home from work. Talk about overtime.  
Though he felt bad for the guy and would rather obtained his safety from the weather some other place, this guy was just in the wrong place at the very wrong time. Like a mighty gust of wind he swept up the umbrella, right from his hands, and all the man below did in response was send an angry look up at the sky, cursing it, and then he continued to trudge along as he had before. He completely missed the vampire landing some 30 feet away with that same umbrella.  
Takuya shook himself of as much water as he could and even removed his cloak, balling it up and holding it under his free arm, which, he noticed wryly, had already started to peel and wrinkle. Then, sturdily gripping the umbrella above his head and bracing against the wind, he began to walk.

The rain seemed much more tolerable on the ground; somehow much less violent. And with the umbrella shielding him, walking through it was a breeze. Now that he wasn't under attack by rain, his senses came back to him; not as powerful as when before the raindrops obscured his vision and the water washed away the scents, but he was able to pick up a little whiff of what he believed to be her scent; either very faint and nearly washed away, or quite far from where he was.  
He tried a few different directions to try and determine a more precise location, decided on one that seemed promising and continued on in a calm, mindful daze.  
Gone was the senseless red anger he'd nurtured ever since learning of his mother's death. It had simply evaporated with the shock the girl had delivered. Killing Makoto or the clerk had not been the turning point for this abrupt change, but seeing that girl's face as she gazed in horror upon the body of her slaughtered boyfriend; that had been something of a wake-up call.

Takuya couldn't believe he'd made such a tragic mistake. Killing humans had become a part of his life, and drinking blood for sustenance had become so natural that the thirst he felt and quenched seemed like any other thirst he'd had as a human, the blood not so different from enjoying a soda. He'd had to normalize it, else the guilt and shame eat him alive.  
But what had happened was completely against his rules. It went against everything. Kouji was right; there was a difference between carefully picking prey and handing them death kindly, and mindlessly jumping on unsuspecting humans and killing with no reasoning, with no judgment, with no compassion. Maybe even that didn't excuse vampires from killing like they did, but what he'd done tonight...it just wasn't acceptable. He didn't want to think about. He was just so grateful that his body count stopped at two, three if you count the cat. He'd just been so angry, so hurt, so lost...

But, in the end, it made no difference how he felt. He'd done it. It was that simple. There was no taking it back and there was no fixing it. It was just something he would have to life with for the rest of his life.  
And, barring some kind of cataclysmic event, that would probably be for a long, long time.

Her scent suddenly picked up again, noticeably. It took him little effort to catch it this time, namely because it seemed the wind was blowing it right into him. He turned to face the wind and tried to stare through the rain and darkness, trying to get a glimpse of the woman he could smell was there.  
The streets were completely void of people now, though cars occasionally sped by. She was nowhere to be seen, not even with his vision.  
Nonetheless, he moved towards the scent, slowly but surely, certain that he would not be disappointed. And he was not; the scent got stronger and stronger with each step he took. He was being lead by the scent into a little crevice between two buildings, far too pathetic to be called an alleyway, which seemed to concentrate the scent, though he still couldn't see her. She must be there, she had to be there.  
She was there, he realized. She was just hiding.  
A few steps into the alleyway stood a pair of beat-up looking trash cans. He approached them cautiously and hesitated, then craned over them to see beyond them. And there she was, sitting hunched her, with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head hidden in her knees. She wasn't paying attention to anything; not the vampire who finally discovered her, nor the rain that continued to pelt her. She was already completely soaked, and every few seconds she shivered. She hadn't even tried to escape the rain; just the monster she knew was out there. But now, if she knew or sensed that she was about to die, she didn't make any indication of it.

Takuya stood above her for a few long seconds, making no movement and making no sound. He gazed down on her with aching sadness and pity, and he realized with some remorse that he still didn't know her name. That didn't sit right with him, after all this. It felt so impersonal.  
He only had a few options at this point. Vampires only had so many options when it came to dealing with humans, and eventually he picked one that ended in him saying, "Good evening," softly, sadly, and cordially all at once.  
She lifted her head and turned it around to look up at him. She seemed so beautiful in this state, though a few minutes again he'd have called her "plain," at best. She stared up at him with wide, watery eyes, at first with a look of surprise and alarm, and then with agonized knowing. Her lips moved and she silently mouthed a single word, one that Takuya did not hear. He could tell, though, that she was staring right at his fangs, and the word seemed self-explanatory.  
"I'm not here to hurt you," he reassured her, barely above a whisper. She had moved up to his eyes, and found that they were warm and brown instead of mennacing and red. There was no blood craze or hatred in them; there was no trickery or lust in them either. Except for the unusual brightness of them in the darkness and the sad, sad regret that shimmered so gently in them, they were normal eyes.  
Takuya, however, could not see that his eyes had ceased to be the eyes of anything but a monster, and he closed them in shame. "I just..." He heard her unsurely get to her feet, using the trash cans for balance, and she turned around to face him. She slowly took a step backward. Takuya sensed all of this without needing to open his eyes, and he already knew that she didn't know what to do or how to feel; whether to bolt for her life or let him finish talking, whether she should be afraid and terrified and run, or if she was so overwhelmed by grief that she was willing to let him kill her. She didn't know what to feel herself, and so Takuya did not know either.  
He opened his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said, trying to sound as sympathetic and sincere as when he'd been a human, not a monster. "I'm sure you won't believe me, but I'm sorry for what I did."  
Before she could say anything or react in any way to his words, he held out the umbrella to her, wordlessly urging her to take it. "It's a nasty night," he added with a careless glance at the sky. The umbrella remained in his hand, untouched. The girl continued to stand and stare, suspiciosuly. Given that he'd just killed her boyfriend, practically right in front of her, and she herself was likely to become prey at any moment, her caution was understandable. So he said again, "I'm not going to hurt you. I've had enough death for tonight."  
She at first began to take another step back, but hesitated, and ended up staying where she was. She began to extend her arm, clearly restrained, but reaching for the umbrella. He stepped around the trash cans to hand it to her, and she nearly bolted right then and there; she withdrew her arm fast as lightning and nearly tripped over herself as she began her retreat, but she continued staring at him. Staring at his eyes.  
His arm remained fully extended, insistently holding out that umbrella. After several more pregnant seconds, she began to reach for it again. He took one more step closer to her, and she did not run away. Slowly her fingers curled around the handle, only inches away from his, and she sook the umbrella from him. Even when she held it up to shield her from the rain, she shivered.

Takuya waited for her to do something; to say something, to turn around and run away, or to at least make some acknowledgement of being given the umbrella. She did not. She continued standing there, staring right into his eyes. He wondered if he was accidentally hypnotizing her.  
"Anyway," he began when it was clear she would not do anything in response. The word seemed to startle her. "I have to leave. I have more apologies to make." Hypnotized or not, she nodded. He added then, hesitantly, "May I ask for your name?"  
At first her lips parted slightly, like she might give him a name, but then they closed. Slowly, she shook her head. He could feel fear flare up as she performed this action, like she was terrified of being attacked now that she'd disobeyed a request. Instead, he said:  
"That's okay. I shouldn't have expected you to want me to know your name anyway." He turned away, kind of hoping that she would suddenly call it out to him, but she didn't. She remained silent.  
The rain was starting to irritate him again, especially without his cloak to block direct contact from the little pellets. He shook out his cloak and slipped it over his body again, then turned to face her one last time. "I'm sorry again. I hope you'll be okay."  
For the last time, she didn't reply. She took a few short steps back, now staring at the bloody rivulets the rain was washing from the cloak to the ground, and then with a little cry she turned tail and ran. She disappeared into the rain.  
Takuya wondered, briefly, if it would have been kinder to kill her. If that would have been a more merciful course of action. But no more. No more thinking like that.  
She would be okay. She'd stood up to death, stared it right in the face, stoic; refused it when it requested something of her. She would be okay.  
So would he, he'd decided. Now, like he'd said, he had more apologies to make.

With the rain still too fierce to fly, he began the long walk through the city, keeping under cover when he could and withstanding the rain when he had to. It didn't bother him, the rain; it was a discomfort he sort of felt he deserved. He would walk it out until it stopped, hopefully before the sun rose, and then return to Aokigahara, where he knew Kouji was waiting for him.  
He hoped Kouji had a few apologies for him, too.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: The story begins rolling towards the climax. Finally.

Fun Fact: Red Tone is the only chapter story I've ever completely mapped out from beginning to end, not to mention the only story I've completed chapters for completely out of order. The majority of this chapter was written before chapters 6 and 7 even existed. Chapters 10 and 11 are nearly finished while I've barely started on Chapter 9. The epilogue is almost done. Given how much interest I've been pouring into this story in the past few months and given that the rest of the story is pretty much almost done, I anticipate finishing it some time before the end of the year. Uki will have finally completed a project xD I think this is the first chapter story I've really completed since The Love Note.  
At some point before I upload the final chapter, I'm going to update the chapters with slightly revised editions, including bonus material and what I call "extraneous details." All in all I estimate it tacking on an additional 10,000 words or so. That way right before you finish you can go back (if you like) catch up on all the fun stuff and fill in on anything new.

Not to sound like a review whore or anything, but be sure to leave comments now and then if you like. Praise or critique or flames are all well and good. I'm finishing Red Tone because I like it and genuinely want to see it completed, but now and then it certainly helps the process along if I see that other people want it to be completed as well.  
Thank you.

Red Tone

The journey home for Takuya was long and arduous. There wasn't a train running at this time of the night that would take him to where he needed to be, so he walked in the rain, and that made it a trial all on its own. The downpour lasted nearly the whole night, letting up only for minimal stretches at a time before resuming a violent assault, and Takuya made depressingly slow progress the whole duration of it. He took shelter when it got too intense, but the constant water threat was slowly making him weaker.  
Furthermore, he was starting to get just a little concerned about his skin. It was not normal for skin to peel right off in large chunks; not normal at all. Granted, it didn't hurt, but damn. It should not be physically possible for anything to peel off skin like a layer of clothing.  
He felt profoundly tired, and downright exhausted when you took into account all that had happened in the past few hours. All he wanted to do was curl up in a nice warm bed and sleep. Forget the cave, forget Aokigahara, forget Kouji. He just wanted to rest. Sometimes, during that night, it didn't seem like it was worth even trying anymore.

But he continued on with a single-minded determination, and in the last hour of night, the fierce winds finally blew their last gust, and the persistent raindrops finally ran dry. Though the moon was nearly spent, darkness lasted long enough for Takuya to leap into the sky, (extremely appreciative for a more practical method of travel) and ride the night home. He couldn't fly very fast, and the second he got airborne he already knew he couldn't fly very long, but he made it to Aokigahara before the sun made its first shy appearance, the horizon still overcast by the cloudy gray dawn, and from there, he was okay with walking.  
He was happy the night was almost over. Happy and very relieved. Maybe he belonged in the night, but for the first time in many months, he was very grateful to see the sun. For a while, it seemed like there wouldn't ever be a dawn again.

Takuya had had a lot of time to think about things after he became a vampire. He'd had five months, but he'd spent those five months just trying to come to terms with his new reality. That, and sleeping as much as possible to pass the time, to forget. It was his only release, his only valid defense mechanism against imminent insanity or depression. With the exception of his nightmares, he could still be human in his dreams.  
But he needed to think about more important things. Deeper things. Darker things. What it really means to be a vampire; a killing, bloodsucking demon of Hell for all eternity, and how to make this into something he could live with and accept, lest it eventually cause him so much agony and grief that he figure out the most effective method of committing suicide.  
In many ways, even trying to pick his prey was flawed. Older men were probably loved by someone just like younger men. Even loners had someone who loved them and someone they loved. How could you "select" a prey based on obscure factors like that? It was still killing a person, a person who would be missed and whose life would be grieved, no matter who he killed or why he killed them. It would still be inhumane, no matter what stupid factors he brought into play. There could be no logical compromise when it came to deciding whose turn it was to die.

'Just don't eat humans,' thought Takuya briefly. With his belly so full of delicious human blood and bursting with satisfaction and contentment, Takuya thought it could actually be a simple thing to survive off of animals. He could even convince Kouji to try it with him, he thought.  
But he knew better. Not only would Kouji not agree to such a fanciful notion, he himself already knew that it was just that; fancy. He remembered from his early days as a vampire what it was like to refuse human blood and to survive entirely on animal blood. It wasn't something that even a mature vampire could handle, he thought. The appeal of humans was too great. Vampires were designed to kill humans; it was their only natural function.

In a way he had not been wrong to do what he'd done last night. In essence, he was right. Vampires HAD to look at humans as just humans. It was the only way to live as a vampire. But at the same time, he couldn't think that life somehow didn't matter. In some way, it always mattered. Kouji finally had that reality check last night, when his selfish and unnecessary killing had devastated the one friend he'd had in 60 some years.  
Thankfully, Takuya recognized that now. He wasn't mad at Kouji anymore. As much, anyway. There was still anger and resentment there, yes, but he knew that Kouji was still his friend and that Kouji still cared about him. And even though he had been the source of almost all his grief thus far, Kouji was the only person in the world he knew cared about him right now. Whether he liked it or not, he needed that. It was human to want someone to care about you. He would really worry for himself when he didn't care if he was loved or hated.

Takuya overshot the location a little bit as he continued in his brooding march through the forest, and ended up coming to the shore of Saiko before he met Kouji or the cave. When he realized his error he began to correct himself, figured his out his position from his surroundings and swerved around the shore. He was heading towards the cave, certain that Kouji would probably have retreated to it in the coming dawn. He got by in the light, better than Takuya usually, but he didn't like it any more than his super-sensitive companion. Even though the sun was still quite hidden at the moment, dawn would emerge soon, and the smart vampires would be well hidden before the sun became a risk.  
So he would come upon Kouji probably uneasily awaiting his return in the little cave, and then what? Explain everything that happened, or just apologize for his outburst and leave it at that? Kouji would try to dig through his head, but it'd become a habit of his to keep it closely guarded. Kouji would only get so much out of his head on his own.  
Kouji would just want to know how far he'd gone. If he'd gone crazy and went on a killing spree. If his once gentle, hesitant friend was now a mass murderer and incapable of being trusted.  
Maybe Takuya would tell him. He really needed someone to talk to, and Kouji was his only option. Kouji was a good listener, anyway. He would listen. He would understand.

As he was trying to think of an apology that contained a sufficient amount of finesse not to seem insincere or melodramatic, simultaneously wondering to himself if Kouji would apologize and how he should go about accepting or rejecting it, Takuya was abruptly tackled to the ground, all in a rush, like lightning struck him. He was on the ground before he even acknowledge that he'd been hit, and it took him a second to register that he WAS now on the ground. It took him another second after that for the force of the impact to register as well. Finally, after he acknowledged he WAS on the ground and he HAD been knocked down there, he realized Kouji was lying on top of him, holding a hand over his mouth and looking intently over his shoulder.

Takuya couldn't even begin to fathom why Kouji would have done such a thing; it had definitely never happened before. He wondered if Kouji was still really angry at him or if he'd lost all trust in him and thought he was a threat to be eliminated, and no longer a friend.  
So to make light of it, he gently pushed his hand away and said jokingly, "You that happy to see me?" as though this violent act had been nothing more than an over exaggerated hug.  
Kouji slapped his hand over his mouth again and hissed "Quiet!" he glanced over his shoulder again, fearfully.  
"Kouji, look..." Takuya tried to say beneath his palm, and he was met with a harsh "Shh!" This ticked him off; he'd spent all night thinking about what had happened and how he needed to go apologize to this guy, and THIS was his welcome home? Fuck that.  
He pushed Kouji hard; either he caught him off guard or he'd found some inner well of strength, because Kouji nearly flew back from the sudden assault. Takuya said sharply, "What's your problem?" and Kouji just shushed him again.  
"Shut up, you idiot. You're going to get yourself killed."  
"Don't call me an idiot, you bastard." Was Kouji trying to fight him? Was that it? Was he ready to stand up for himself? 'Kind of late for that,' Takuya thought. 'You could've fought me last night.'  
"_Shut up!_" he hissed again, urgently. He paused for a second before adding, sounding exasperated, "I'm not trying to fight you!" Great, Kouji was still going in and out of his mind at will.  
"Then why-"  
"I don't want him to find you here," he hurriedly interrupted, in a dead quiet whisper. "He's here, he'll kill you. You've got to go away!"  
"Who-" And finally, Takuya took in the sight of Kouji's clothes. They were torn, tattered, and destroyed, and Kouji himself looked all torn up as well. Gashes that looked fresh littered his arms, deeper than the ones Takuya had given him. He was clearly shaken and obviously exhausted; Takuya had never seen him look so tired and so drained, even in the day time. He knew he hadn't done all THAT to Kouji last night; he'd tried to, but he knew he wasn't responsible for all of it. He'd been fighting someone else.  
He asked, "Kouji? What's wrong?" before his friend flew up into the air, fast, like he'd been hit by a truck, slamming into a tree so hard it soon collapsed afterward. Takuya hadn't even seen what had struck him so hard; it was had been so fast, and so silent. He just stared at the spot where Kouji had used to be, in shock, his mouth agape and his mind frozen, finally reaching a state of panic when he heard an unfamiliar voice speak up from the silence.

"So the young one has returned." The voice seemed to come from all around. It sounded young, but at the same time the language it spoke sounded old. It spoke in such a thick, weird, kind of foreign accent that Takuya had to really focus to understand him. "I knew you'd a acquired a protege, little brother. I told you; you can't lie to me." That voice was so weird, and the words he used were so old-fashioned and complicated that Takuya only recognized them from novels and classic literature he'd read back in school. It was a weird jumble; some of it modern, some of it old-fashioned, some of it just archaic.  
Kouji was getting to his feet, slowly, tenderly. He was gritting his teeth savagely and Takuya thought, for a second, he heard him grunt out the name, "Kugyo."  
As Takuya watched him he wondered if he was injured, and thought suddenly that this creepy, disconcerting voice had probably been the cause of all of Kouji's suffering these past few hours. Then his memory flashed the name "Kugyo" through it a couple times, Kouji's morbid story coming back to him in waves, and all hell broke loose. He yelled out, "Kouji?" and the other vampire looked at him, only for a moment, and then looked past him.

Takuya spun around, and there stood a stiffly smiling boy, roughly the same height as Kouji, and with a very similar appearance too. Despite his time-worn speech he dressed in modern clothing, and his attire also consisted of a cloak; a long, billowing black one on which the hood was currently down. His lips were curled back into a evil, perfectly white smile. His eyes were dark blue, even darker than Kouji's, nearly black, and they were fixated completely on Takuya. Staring right at him, piercing into him. Inflicting terror on him.

Takuya began to frantically back away and scream, "KOUJI-" but then he froze. His whole body just stiffened up and he couldn't move a muscle. He felt completely paralyzed from head to toe and he couldn't even get his eyelids to blink; which, he realized to a certain form of amusement, didn't actually bother him very much.  
He continued standing for a moment, or at least he remained suspended in space for a few seconds, but then he fell backwards and hit the ground with a dead "THUD!" still completely lifeless. The other boy's eyes followed him to the ground, but he didn't move. He just continued smiling that creepy, evil smile. As he laid upon the forest floor, staring straight at the other vampire, he realized, alarmed now more than ever, that he was levitating slightly. His feet were a good half foot from the ground, but he seemed to be standing solidly. But it was dawn...how could he do that in the day time? How was that even possible?

By the time Kouji realized what was happening, he'd already hit the ground. When he didn't move, when it was clear that something profoundly wrong had occurred, Kouji called in a weak, almost pitiful voice, "Takuya?" He was incredulous that something could have actually happened to Takuya without the other vampire so much as lifting a finger. He waited; he got no response. And when he didn't move: "TAKUYA!" In a flash he lost all his cool and was right next to him, picking him up in his arms and shaking him, trying to get him to move again, endlessly repeating his name, panicking, and for the first time, completing turning his back to his brother.  
"Oh, don't be alarmed," Kugyo said, a little too late, as Kouji was already pretty alarmed by this point. "He's not dead or anything. He just can't move right now." Kouji glared venomously at his brother, who continued smiling sweetly. For a being so evil Hell itself rejected it, the shinso seemed remarkably pleasant. He seemed downright jovial.  
"What did you do to him?" Kouji seethed hatefully.  
"Nothing at all; at least, nothing harmful. He just can't quite move right now, like I said. It's a very simple trick," Kugyo admonished. "Don't tell me you can't do it. I know all vampires can do it on humans, but surely you can affect other vampires..."  
Kouji's face was angrily twisted into a snarl and his eyes were absolutely burning with fury. Takuya wanted to say something, like how he was alright and he wasn't in any pain and he shouldn't lose his focus because of this minor problem, but he couldn't speak. He couldn't even open his lips. He settled for letting Kouji delve gently into his mind, though he didn't much like the idea of him snooping around in there at the moment, and he felt Kouji notably relax when he realized that Kugyo was really telling him the truth.

Unfortunately, it didn't make him any less angry at his brother. Kouji was already starting to make a low hissing noise. He was still utterly panicked, and despite feeling near uncontrollable rage, he was very, very, very afraid. Takuya knew this much. He felt other feelings too, ones that he didn't want to think about right now. It wasn't exactly the best moment for them.  
"By the way, little brother, that your new name? 'Kouji?' It's very cute," he said earnestly. "I guess you must just like the 'ji' suffix? I think your last one was, I believe, 'Yasuji'? That was about a hundred years ago though; oh my, it's been so long hasn't it?"  
"You're one to talk," Kouji sneered. "A few hundred years ago you actually took a woman's name, remember?" Kouji clearly intended this to be an insult; Kugyo just found it hilarious. He laughed.  
"Oh yes, I remember that. Why do names have to go out of fashion so fast…? Anyway, I've decided that since you went ahead and renamed yourself, I'll go ahead and do that too. Since you correctly identified yourself with 'ji,' the second son, I think I'll choose a similarly relevant suffix and choose 'ichi' for the first son. So that would make me…Kouichi? Oh, this language is fun to play with. You just create names out of thin air- like that." And he snapped his fingers, completely ignoring his brother's hostile scowl. "I did try Cantonese for a while, but that wasn't nearly as fun…"  
"When are you going to reach your point, Kugyo?" Kouji demanded in a low, cruel growl. "You can't pretend to be innocent after all that. You came here for something."  
"Oh please; call me Kouichi if you're so intent on being called by your new name, Ko-…little brother." Kugyo, henceforth known as Kouichi, smiled sweetly. "Oh little brother; try to understand my position here. I haven't seen my only family in almost a hundred years and I'm enjoying the reunion. You can forgive me for dawdling along. It's not like we're on a deadline. We're not dying any faster."  
"Get. To. The. Point," Kouji seethed again. "If you're just here for a family get together, let Takuya go. He has nothing to do with us."  
"Well, he has to do with you, little brother, therefore he has everything to do with me. Furthermore, you already know what I want of you, right? I want you dead. And you know that even with your pet there, I'd win, even though I know you conversely want me dead. So how about we call it a stalemate, sit back for a while and catch up before we continue trying to killing each other? You know if I wanted to fight you any more, I'd have instigated it already. We already know what the outcome would be if we fought anymore anyway. Your death comes to mind."  
Kouji angrily let Takuya fall back to the ground, which he truthfully did not appreciate. He sat, on the ground, staring hard at his brother, who was now floating on his stomach while drawing picturesque mountains in the soil.  
Takuya listened keenly to everything they had to say.

"I do apologize for bursting into your humble home so immodestly and proceeding to try and kill you," Kouichi said, somehow sounding sincere. "You see, you were just being very upset and uncooperative; I had no choice but to try and assuage you."  
"You wanted to kill Takuya," Kouji growled. "That's the only reason you found me. You tracked him somehow."  
"I found out you'd obtained a little friend and I was curious as to what it was. In all these years you've never taken in a pet, so I got nosy as to why this one was so special. You're the one who refused to satisfy my curiosity."  
"I'm not letting you kill him," he replied flatly, refusing to acknowledge any of these statements. Kouichi just sighed in response.  
"Well, he's here now, so if I should be so inclined I could easily kill him now. All of that earlier nonsense was unnecessary in the end, wasn't it?" Kouji's hissing was so low and odious that Takuya became acutely distressed just by the sound; he'd never felt such anger and resentment coming from his friend before, and yet he felt nothing at all come from the other vampire. It was like there was an endless black void where there should have been a neatly contained mixture of feeling and emotion. For as angry as Kouji was, Kouichi was equally as emotionless.  
"You have a nice little place here, little brother," Kouichi commented politely. "Scenic lake, green grass, full trees, even your own quaint little cave…"  
"And where do you live? Somewhere hot and covered in fiery brimstone, right?"  
"It's not, actually, covered in brimstone," Kouichi informed his brother. "I think it's actually onyx, maybe. And maybe there's fire in some of the layers, but mine was nice and cold and dark. You flatter me to think I could withstand Hell's fire, little brother." Kouichi now scribbled his new name in the earth, in ridiculously intricate hiragana considering his lack of proper writing materials. He kept emphasizing the "ichi" part of it. At first he chose the character for "threat," then "hill," and finally decided on the character for "lord" as the "Kou" prefix. "Ko-u-i-chi," he sounded out. "I think it's a good name."  
"Fantastic," Kouji replied dryly. His brother wiped his hands of the dirt and pulled himself back up to a sitting position, almost on purpose, so that Kouji would have to look up at him as he talked. Kouji remained firmly on the ground; his brother continued floating a few inches to retain a height advantage.

"I'm not here to kill your pet, by the way," Kouichi assured him. "Like I said, I was just nosy and wanted to see it. I'm happy for you that you finally have your own little pet now. It's good you finally saw the usefulness of a pet."  
"He's not my pet," Kouji said flatly, and Kouichi actually gasped a little.  
"No…don't tell me YOU are HIS…"  
"Neither of us is a pet, Kugyo. That's just some twisted sentiment you came up with."  
"Not just my sentiment, but a useful one, at that." Takuya almost felt like laughing when Kouichi slowly rotated clockwise until he actually appeared to be floating on his head, though he still seemed to be sitting. He could swear Kouji's eyebrow twitched. "I guess you're still obsessed with your silly little 'mate' theory…when will you learn, little brother, that a powerful vampire keeps slaves…?"  
"When will you ever figure out that there is no need for them, especially in this day and age? Vampires don't fight each other; we don't fight humans. Why do we need slaves? You're the only vampire that I know of that's even interested in killing for other than food; you're the only other one I know that keeps other vampires as slaves. I know others who think your ways are sick and who do have mates. Your ways are outdated."  
Kouichi chuckled at these sentiments, as though politely appreciating someone's failed attempt at a clever joke. Kouji still was in the habit of clicking his teeth when he laughed; Kouichi just had a low, grumbling chuckle that sounded more like an evil growl. "You haven't gotten out of the country much, have you little brother? Ever been to North Korea? Oh, no, you wouldn't have. You're still having your little 'water problem,' aren't you?"  
Kouji had actually been trying to put on a distinctly unemotional face for the past minute or so, but he deeply scowled at this comment. "It's such a dreadful shame that a demon with so much potential could be so weak. Although, now that I think about it…"

Kouichi turned himself right-side up again, and he finally began staring in interest at the brunet lying on the ground, not moving a single muscle. Though this was entirely what he'd come for, revealing himself to his brother for the first time in a hundred or so years, he hadn't appeared remotely interested in Takuya before now. "He's yours, I take it?"  
"He's not my slave," Kouji repeated, sounding progressively angrier with each word.  
"No, but you created him, I'm guessing. That's unusual little brother; I don't think I can recall you ever transforming another human before this one. Why the change of heart?" Kouji did not respond, but Kouichi had a look on his face that Takuya often saw on Kouji; one that meant he was trying to read his mind. Based on the furrowed eyebrows and the little frown that followed afterward, he apparently failed. "Regardless...that makes this one a third generation vampire, right? Hmm, I've never actually gotten to know one very well; I usually just kill them. They're incredibly weak, aren't they?"  
"Not at all," Kouji growled between clenched teeth. "He's strong."  
"Maybe to you, but then you were always just a bit of a weakling…" Takuya might not have noticed it if he weren't carefully looking Kouji over, but he saw his entire left side twitch. His face was curled in a snarl again. He looked like a feral animal ready to pounce.  
"You know, maybe I should let your little pet go so we can have a match. Two on one isn't very fair, but I have no doubt that I'd be able to defeat you. After all, we haven't properly battled for almost two hundred years; and you're overdue to die by about…eight hundred?  
"Seven hundred and ninety-two," Kouji ground out, his fists beginning to shake, "if my assumption is correct and you're trying to say I should've been killed as soon as I was born."  
"Oh, was I too obvious about that? Yes," he sighed wistfully, dreamily staring off into oblivion. "That would've saved everyone a lot of trouble, wouldn't it? For example, I wouldn't be so bothered by the fact that you're alive, you wouldn't be so miserable over the fact that you're alive, (you're alive, little brother; you still occupy space in this world) our father probably wouldn't have had to worry so much about you being out there, you wouldn't have murdered that poor little boy…" At this, Kouji's entire body began to shake softly, and he began to emit a low, vicious hiss. "-and you probably wouldn't have gone and bothered this poor boy and his life; now he'll probably hate you for as long as he lives. After all, if he doesn't hate you for making him a demon to begin with, I'm sure he hates that you're so weak and can't even protect him until he realizes his full potential, if he even has any. You never know; maybe you'll finally have someone as weak as you are-"

Kouji abruptly leapt from the ground and rushed straight at his brother, nothing but a blur, completely silent. In a split second Kouichi disappeared, and then reappeared, not two feet away, pleasantly smiling at his little brother.  
"Oh come on now, Kouji. I'm not ready to fight today." Another blur went straight for his throat; he didn't so much as dodge it as he did practically teleport from it. A chain of blurred bodies continued, going on and on, nothing ever actually happening; no one ever actually meeting. Takuya couldn't believe the speed Kouji was capable of attaining when he really wanted to. They finally paused many long seconds later, neither of them any worse off, both of them facing each other head on and regarding each other with extremely wary intensity.  
"You seem so determined all of a sudden, little brother," Kouichi stated calmly. "I wonder why you didn't put forth so much effort earlier?"  
"Let Takuya go," Kouji said again, his words guttural with rage.  
"Is that all this is about? You just want me to let your little mate get away with his tail between his legs?"  
"If you don't let him go, I swear to God…" Kouji let him imagine what he'd do, but as he tensed and positioned himself to strike, Kouichi only mockingly clicked his teeth. Despite his superiority complex, even the demon seemed to occasionally exhibit some "normal" vampiric features.  
"First of all, I assure you there is no God, little brother. Maybe there's some shell of heaven out there, but no God. Second, you can't do a thing to me. I believe the phrase for this is called 'shit out of luck,'" he said, enunciating the words very carefully. "Is that it? No matter…you know the truth, you're totally ineffective when it comes to fighting me. We both know this already." And though Kouji still remained posed to strike him at the first given opportunity, his eyes fell to the ground, shamefully looking away from the shinso. "So will you _finally_let me kill you, all to protect your little pet? Hell, if that's all it'll take, maybe I'll kill him now…

What happened after that took about three seconds to occur. In the first second, Takuya suddenly felt free and unbound; his paralysis had been completely lifted. And while before Kouichi had been a completely emotionless void, all at once emotions began flooding into him, like until this moment there had never been such emotions to feel. He'd never felt something so intimately from another creature before; he could think, react, feel; and he knew, essentially, what Kouichi was thinking, just through his emotions. It was chilling; it felt cold, evil, totally beyond human emotions, and the rush of such a chaotic cocktail almost made him sick.  
In the next second, Kouichi lifted his hand towards Takuya, saying bluntly, "Well?" as if hinting that if Kouji himself willed it, he would gladly kill Takuya, without so much as blinking, just through this insignificant movement of his hand alone. Then Takuya got to his knees.  
In the third second, Kouji's eyes lifted back to his brother, hate-filled rage burning in them as he began to charge in rebuttal, prepared to if not tackle into his brother, cause as much damage as was remotely possible with complete disregard for his own safety, and Kouichi's grin grew even more maniacal. If Kouji died in this attack, if the shinso finally killed him after all these years and sent him to Hell like he'd always promised, he didn't care, so long as Takuya was safe.  
Takuya felt this from Kouji, and when he realized what he simultaneously felt from the shinso, he knew all too clearly that Kouji would literally be killing himself for nothing.  
"Kouji, stop!" he shouted when he realized he had the chance to intervene before it was too late. "Stop, STOP! He doesn't mean it; he's just playing with you!" The momentum carried Kouji forward, even as he heard his words, even as he gasped in relief to hear Takuya's voice again. His face suddenly shifted from demonic rage to tenderness. "He won't do it! He's just baiting you! STOP!"  
Kouji had to continue taking one step; two steps, three steps, before he could halt himself. His head twitched, urging to look back at Takuya, but he refused to let his eyes off of Kouichi, who was now chuckling.  
"So, your pet's a feeling vampire. In my sincere opinion I think that's completely useless in most circumstances, but at least you've got the good ability, the mind reading one, so that makes you slightly less useless." All of this was still said in a friendly, conversational tone, as though the two hadn't just attempted to trade blows and they hadn't been close to attempting to kill each other. Not to mention, Kouichi had no qualms about looking away from his brother; his head turned to Takuya, and he smiled encouragingly.  
"Don't get me wrong; for all I know, third generation vampires might turn out to be somewhat useful. Sometimes even second generation can almost match a shinso, so I'm sure with enough practice you could end up alright. But, well…let's just say that my little brother here is half as strong as me just because he's not a shinso. Just imagine how you compare." At this, Takuya couldn't help but shiver. He also couldn't help but notice that he was still in a very vulnerable position and that Kouichi was in a very advantageous position to deliver a swift killing blow, to both him and Kouji, if they pressed his buttons the wrong way.

"We'll kill you." Kouichi returned his gaze to his brother and pulled his legs back into the air, sitting comfortably.  
"What was that, little brother?"  
"We'll kill you," Kouji said, so low a mortal would not have been able to hear; so packed with emotion that a demon such as Kouichi could not even detect it, though it sent Takuya's mind reeling. "Takuya and I will kill you. Right here, right now."  
The brunet in question felt like speaking up for himself; after all, Kouji couldn't dictate who and when he fought, and he hadn't even been able to interject once throughout this entire meeting except to save Kouji from making a grave mistake. But it was unnecessary; Kouichi leaned over again and sighed, deeply.  
"Oh, but I don't feel like it right now. It's almost day time little brother; how smart would it be to engage in glorious battle right before the sun's emergence?" Kouji thought about this, then grunted and nodded shortly. Even for a vampire as powerful as a shinso, there were just some things that you didn't do. Fighting in the sunlight seemed to be one of them. "We'll kill each other later, I promise. Besides, if we're fighting one on two, that wouldn't be fair. You'd have to allow me to bring one of my pets."  
"Fine," Kouji growled, even as his fingers tensed, like claws. "Takuya will handle your pitiful slave and I'll take you down."  
"Au contraire, little brother; that means 'on the contrary,' in French," Kouichi explained.  
"I'm aware." His teeth were so tightly clenched it was a wonder he was able to pronounce words.  
"I want to play with your pet, and I think you'd enjoy playing with mine. She's very, very special."  
"I don't care about your slaves," his brother spat in return. "I just want to personally cast you right back into the Hell you came back out of."  
"Then if you and your pet can defeat my little slave, I'll let you have a go at me." Kouichi gestured with his hands, inviting his brother to suggest something that might be better. "Do we have a deal?"  
Takuya again was about to speak up for himself, but immediately afterward, Kouji stiffly said, "Deal," and that was it.  
"Very well; you'll know when and where to find me, I'm sure. It was nice to see you again, little brother."  
"Fuck you. That means 'fuck you' in Japanese."  
Kouichi got a kick out of that, and even as he seemingly disappeared into thin air, his chuckles could still be heard in the dead silence, like a phantom's laughter.

"So, uh…" Kouji was still standing stiff as an ancient stone statue, staring into the abyss where his brother had once been. His face was still twisted in mad rage. "You've got some serious family problems, huh?"  
"No shit." Kouji was still just standing there, refusing to move from his spot, but he began to shudder.  
Takuya finally picked himself up, awkwardly, trying to figure out what to do or what to say in this unusual situation he suddenly found himself in. Kouji beat him to it:  
"I'm sorry I dragged you into that. You don't have to show up for when we fight. You don't need to be brought into this."  
"Well, no, I don't." Takuya felt incredibly tempted to get the hell out of there. He'd denounced Kouji as a friend, companion, mate or what have you not too long ago; he could forgive the guy, but he would have to earn his trust again, from scratch. He wasn't about to go back on his word so quick, especially not after what Kouji had done.  
But…Kugyo had done worse. He figured there was no escaping, anyway; even if he abandoned Kouji to fight his brother on his own, inevitably, the shinso would probably hunt him down again, and then he'd really be dead. If he had to pick sides, he'd still rather stick with the guy who'd been helping him all this time.  
"I'm just…so sorry, Takuya. It's all my fault. I should've just killed myself after Hiroko…" He felt his emotions raging between anger, regret, sorrow, and most obvious of all, a desperate need to apologize. Altogether, it was frighteningly powerful; Takuya couldn't remember the last time Kouji had let his emotions open up so much. He was overwhelmed; it was like a dam had broken and it was releasing countless feelings everywhere. "Then I would've just finally died and Kugyo wouldn't have had the pleasure of doing it, and you'd still be human and your mother would still be alive and you'd still be _happy_." His voice broke on the word "happy," very obviously, and Kouji just shook his head sadly. He was making these pitiful little sobbing sounds, trying to do what he could not do: cry. His whole body just dropped to the ground and he violently beat it with a tightly clenched fist, over and over again, trying to destroy the earth itself when he couldn't release his agony in tears.  
And after he watched Kouji unleash for a few seconds, after he'd finally calmed down and stopped clenching his teeth and mewling fake sobs, Takuya finally replied.

"I can't say I wouldn't rather still be human, and I still wish my mom was still alive. And yeah, I am still pretty pissed at you for that. That hasn't changed," he began. Kouji still couldn't bear to look at him, but he nodded, and though Takuya obviously wasn't done, he replied,  
"Then just go somewhere; somewhere densely populated by humans, but not near enough to where you'll want to attack them. He won't touch you where there are witnesses; he won't be able to kill all of them. He'll forget about you in a few years. He really doesn't give a damn about third generation vampires because he's not even remotely threatened by them. It's me he really wants dead, not you."  
Takuya paused uncomfortably. Kouji was willing to let him go; hell, he was flat out telling him to go away. But even after he'd loudly and finitely ripped apart his friendship with Kouji, Takuya couldn't bring himself to leave him in the middle of something he knew he couldn't handle by himself. If they were to fight again, Kouichi would kill him before he could even try to land a blow, and even Kouji knew that. Why else would he have remained hidden in this god forsaken forest for so long?  
"I gotta tell you though; I was pretty far from happy where I was before all this," he eventually added.  
Kouji just resumed sitting on the ground, hunched over, trying desperately to shrink into nothing. He didn't want to see anything and he didn't want to be seen. While before there had been a torrent of feelings, Takuya felt his emotions totally and completely shrivel up, and there was nothing there. It kind of scared him how similar this reaction was to the shinso.

"Listen. Seriously, listen, okay? I've been wanting to say this all night." Kouji didn't react to his words, but he kept going anyway. Surely Kouji could hear him, regardless whether or not he acknowledged him. "I'm sorry about what I said last night. I was angry, okay? You killed my mom. Practically right under my nose! And then you go and have me romp around with you and keep me from the news, figuring I'd never find out? What was I supposed to say? 'Gee bud, you killed my mom and lied to me but that's okay and I don't care?' Shit, man…"  
He didn't even feel Kouji's presence digging around inside his mind. Kouji just ceased to exist all of a sudden, even though he was right there in front of him. Takuya still felt remarkably sorry for him, even after what he'd done.  
"I know you wouldn't have killed her if you'd known you were going to let me live. I know you just weren't expecting to make me a vampire that night. I know it's not your fault and I forgive you."  
Kouji didn't seem to be listening at all. Takuya was getting sick of talking to nothing.  
"Look, I'm sticking around. You stuck with me all that time when you could've just left me after transforming me, even when I was out of control or doing stupid shit that could've gotten you in trouble. I owe you that much."  
Kouji muttered, "I owe you a life, two actually; the one I took from your mother and the one I took from you."  
"Well, first off, pay me back by making sure Kugyo doesn't kill me. That I'd appreciate." Kouji's shoulders sunk in despair, and he sighed sadly.  
"I can't promise that," he whispered. "Kugyo's so strong; he's one of the most terrifyingly powerful shinso I know. He's hundreds of years old; he knows every trick, he's beyond cruel, completely insatiable for killing…"  
"You're just about as old as him, and you have plenty of knowledge yourself. His slave's gonna be way weaker than him, so I'll just kill him quickly and we'll both take on Kugyo together, okay?"  
"And what?" he asked, sounding as dismal as Takuya sounded confident. "You've never had to fight a vampire before. You're a third generation; I'm a second. We stand no chance against a shinso. You just don't understand the vast disadvantage we're at here. You don't even know what it was like holding him off, even for ten minutes until you showed up..." Takuya shivered. Ten minutes? Kugyo messed up his brother that bad in only ten minutes? And Kugyo hadn't even called it fighting; he was just "persuading" his brother to give him the information that he wanted...  
Still, though.  
"We have an advantage. We're the good guys. The good guys always win." Finally, thankfully, Kouji clicked his teeth. It was discouraging to see that he'd regressed from the normal laughter he'd started to pick up back to his vampire habits, but at least it was a positive response.  
"You're crazy," Kouji told him in an affectionate tone. "So crazy and cocky and stupid."  
"How many times today do I have to tell you not to call me stupid, you bastard?"  
"Not enough; you're still stupid."  
"And you're still an angsty old bastard. 'Old' being the main draw to that sentence." Whether the lighthearted joking was an attempt to ease the tension, to forget the fact that they had agreed to enter a duel likely to result in their deaths, or even just their own peculiar way of apologizing, even they probably didn't know.

"Takuya?"  
"Yeah?"  
"After you left, last night, I mean...after what happened with us, you know..."  
"Two." Kouji visibly calmed down. He even found it within himself to look over his shoulder and smile.  
"Just two?"  
"Just two. Three, if you count a cat." Those teeth clicked again, and then he resumed staring at the ground. "One of them an older man who lived alone anyway. The other one..."  
Takuya didn't say anything, but he thought it. Kouji eventually got the picture and began delving delicately in his mind, and after a few seconds he softly said, "I see," and that was all that needed to be said.  
"I hope you can forgive me too."  
"I can't be mad at you, Takuya. Not for long anyway. You're the only living thing in the world I give a shit about." He hesitated, perhaps not sure if it was in his best interests to continue, but he did: "I worried about you all night. I worried you would do something you regret. I already know how it is to live with regret."  
"I know."  
"I hope you know that I apologize profusely, _profusely_, for killing your mother. If we stay alive much longer, and stay together, I hope you know you'll be hearing that from me annoyingly often." Takuya wasn't sure if Kouji was trying to be funny when he said that, but he just accepted it. It wouldn't bring back his mother, but he knew Kouji agonized over what he'd done, and Kouji himself knew as well.  
"And I forgive you. You're still kind of on my shit list for it, but I forgive you."  
"If it makes you feel better, it was painless for her. After I left you that night I found her in her room, sound asleep. I was as gentle as I could be; I don't think she ever even woke up. She still looked very peaceful in the end-"  
"Thanks. I guess that kind of makes me feel better. Just...don't talk about it anymore. I don't want to think about it."  
"As you wish."

Now that dawn had fully emerged and the clouds covering the sky had begun to dissipate, the sun began to shed its light on the world, and the vampires were getting uncomfortable. Takuya was reduced to squinting in the light and was quickly losing his already limited vision, and Kouji had to hold an arm over his face to protect it from the rays, so that he could clearly see his companion. When he saw that Takuya was quickly becoming irritated by the light, he suggested: "Let's go inside the cave for now and get some rest. We don't have to worry about my brother for now. Shinso or not, he doesn't like the light either."  
Takuya grunted an agreement, and began wandering around, blindly looking for the cave entrance. The sunlight was far too bright; he couldn't see anything properly.  
Kouji, however, surely took his hand, and began leading him along. He didn't let go of it even when they reached the mouth of the shallow cave, or even when Takuya went in as far and as deep as he could, and settled into the cold rock. Kouji retrieved his pillow for him, and even when he collapsed on top of it and curled up sleepily, he still did not let go of his hand. Takuya felt warm, pleasant feelings emitting from him, and while at first he kind of liked that and was kind of relieved that Kouji could feel like this after letting himself be swallowed into such an emotionless void, eventually he mumbled,  
"Just because I forgive you doesn't mean you're my 'mate' now or whatever, Kouji."  
He quietly continued holding his hand for a moment, and then sighed, and released it.  
"I understand. I hope you don't mind me saying that I still hope, one of these days..."  
"Let's try to not die first. No, let's get some sleep first. Then we'll worry about not dying. Then we can wonder about more...complicated things like that."  
"You and your sleeping; you always want to sleep," he teased gently. He waited for a response, but the brunet did not give him one, and he sighed again. The young vampire had already fallen asleep, and he couldn't really blame him; it had been an exhausting night.

Kouji remained awake for many hours after that, unbeknownst to Takuya, thinking about the shinso; thinking about his friend. Takuya didn't know what was in store for him, but he was willing to stand up against one of the most ancient Shinso he knew existed, all for him. He was willing to risk death to help him. And that made the warm feeling inside expand.  
He didn't know what was ahead, and he didn't know what his brother had in store for Takuya. He would protect him for as long as he could and he would do anything to ensure that he came out of this alive, but he wasn't naïve. Takuya might not want to think about it, but he knew how easy it would be for the shinso to kill him. All he knew was, and he made this decision deep into the afternoon before he finally fell into sweet slumber himself, that should Takuya fall in the upcoming battle, he would not hesitate to kill himself afterward. He'd had enough losing the people he cared about, and he'd had enough trying to scrape by in life with a lonely existence. He would try to make his suicide noble by attempting to finally strike down his brother, but if it came to it, he would set himself on fire. He'd find a way. He would not remain in a world that was cold and empty like it had been without his only companion, and if his brother took that away from him, he wanted nothing else to do with life.  
Besides, suicide would spite Kouichi marvelously, and if he died knowing how infuriated Kouichi would be over not getting to do it himself, well, he would be okay with letting death take him.

Takuya did not concern himself with these thoughts. In his dreams, he was human again, riding a train on the way to visit his friend Kouji, who lived in the mountains. He wasn't wearing his bloody cloak anymore; he had on normal clothes and had ear buds in his ears, and he was listening to his favorite song. He also had a half-full bottle of Pepsi in his hand, and though he didn't drink from it, knowing it was there filled him with contentment.  
Eventually one of the seats opened up, and since he still had a while to go, he went ahead and sat down in it. After a few minutes he got sleepy, and he leaned up against who he thought was a stranger, who ended up being Kouji ('why was Kouji on the train?' he wondered) without his cloak and dressed in normal clothes as well. He rested his head against his chest, and the other human clicked his teeth in amusement. He stroked his hair, and his touch was warm and soft. He was ready to settle in and take a nap when Kouji smirked, his fangs already enormous, and then he leaned down and bit his neck.  
He didn't remember what happened after that; the shock woke him up after a few seconds. Even when he realized he was awake, when he caught sight of Kouji he braced himself for an attack. But then he realized that he was not on a train, and Kouji was not trying to kill him, and furthermore, that he was not human.

He looked around the tiny cave and determined by the light that it was late afternoon. His morose little friend was hunched up against the side of the cave, knees to his chest, sleeping soundly. If he was haunted by dreams or nightmares, they didn't seem to be bothering him now; his face seemed completely serene.  
Takuya just curled up with his pillow again and rest his head upon it. Sleep was his only escape from this world. Sometimes his dreams were scarier than reality, but this time, reality was far scarier. The echoing laughter of the shinso still rung in his ears, and he looked to Kouji again, absorbing his tattered, defeated appearance. He wasn't completely in denial; in his heart had settled the sinking feeling that he may not be alive much longer. So he willed himself back to sleep, to at least pretend to be human a few more times before he died.

* * *

Additional author note: I know some things are a little confusing right now, namely how Kugyo exists given the circumstances outlined by Kouji back in chapter 2. These things will be explained later, don't worry.


End file.
